


Among the Tombs

by PandaPez



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Action, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-03
Updated: 2014-04-16
Packaged: 2017-12-25 12:22:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 36,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/953057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandaPez/pseuds/PandaPez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A supposedly routine trip to Omega to pick up parts for the Normandy takes an unexpected turn for Garrus and Shepard when they run into someone from her past. Set during ME2</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Since most of my Shakarian stuff's usually short and serious , I thought I'd try something different and go with a longer, more action-oriented piece for a change. The Shepard in here's a little more specific than I usually do - she's an Earthborn Sole-Survivor Paragon - but other than that I tried to keep her as vague as possible. Also, if any of you are engine savvy, I completely apologize for the inaccuracies I'm sure I made. Anyway, that's it, so hope you all enjoy.~

  
Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs,  
and even from these dead doubts she gathers her most vital hope.  
\- Herman Melville

"Wake up, Commander."

Shepard's eyes flickered open, and for a brief moment the sounds of gunfire and explosions flashed through her mind. She rubbed the memory away with a hand and rolled over to look at the clock beside her bed.

_0500\. Great._

"Shepard, are you awake?" Miranda's voice crackled through the intercom overhead.

"I am now." Shepard yawned, sitting up. "We really need to work on your bedside manner, Miranda."

"This isn't the time, Shepard." Miranda replied, her sharp tone managing to cut it's way through even the intercom's static. "We have a situation in the engine room."

 _Of course we do._  "What is it?" Shepard asked, getting up and heading towards her dresser. Her bruised muscles prickled at the sudden movement, but she ignored them.

"I'm not sure. Donnelly says it has something to do with FBA couplings you acquired for them."

Shepard pulled on a clean uniform. "The ones we got on Omega?"

"Yes. You should hurry, Commander. Donnelly said it wasn't good."

"On my way now." she said, stepping into the elevator and punching the Engineer Deck button. She stretched as it carried her down, closing her eyes and rolling her head around her shoulders.  _How much sleep did I get?_ she wondered.  _Four hours?_ The elevator slowed to a stop, earlier than she expected, and she sighed and opened her eyes.

"Garrus." she said, mildly surprised to find the turian staring back at her.

"Shepard." he answered, mandibles twitching slightly. Even after all this time, she still had some trouble reading his expressions, but judging by the situation she took that one to mean he was as surprised by their sudden meeting as she was. "What are you doing up this early?"

"Situation in the engine room." she explained as she stepped over to make room, noticing for the first time she'd stopped on the Crew Deck. "You?"

"I'm always up early." he said, his voice enviably awake and clear as he joined her. He lifted his hands as he gestured to the small mound of clothes he held there. "Thought I'd catch a shower before all the humans woke up and stole the hot water."

"We do love our hot water." Shepard acknowledged. "But why are you waiting for the elevator?"

Garrus gestured to his clothes again. A closer examination revealed that the fabric was on its last leg, it's worn threads frayed to almost sheer in some places. Shepard thought she saw a hole in one of the sleeves. "Apparently vigilante life doesn't suit clothes as well as you'd imagine. Figured it was time to give these a proper send off out the trash compactor."

"No kidding." she said with a small grin. Once again the elevator slowed and the doors opened as they reached their floor. "Now to find out what's gone wrong this time. Coming Garrus?" she added as she stepped out.

"Wouldn't miss it." he replied, voice dry as he followed her. "I'll just drop these off and meet you there."

She nodded as she turned away and headed through the nearby doors. She kept her steps light as she walked across the metal grated floor, mindful that Jack might still be asleep below, and entered into the main engine room.

"I  _told_  you there was something off with the readings yesterday." Daniels said, hunched over the diagnostics panel in front of her.

"Ah, would you let it go, woman?" Donnelly called back to her from further down the room. "Tali, have you gotten to the arrays yet?"

"Almost.  _Keelah,_  it's hot down here. I hate vents..." Tali's voice answered from somewhere below their feet.

"Daniels, give me the update." Shepard said, coming up beside her and examining the screen. The jumbled mess of numbers and readings made as much sense to her as a hanar bioluminescent joke, but habit made her look it over anyway.

"Commander!" Daniels said, jumping slightly in surprise. "Sorry, ma'am, I didn't hear you come in."

"It's fine, Daniels. Miranda told me there was something off with the FDA couplings?" Shepard asked as she walked further into the room and came up next to Donnelly, who was crouched over a hole in the floor where a grate had been removed to provide access to the inner engine.

"FBA couplings, ma'am." Daniels corrected, following her. "We first noticed a spike in the engine's thermal readings yesterday, and I wanted to run some diagnostics to check in to it, but numb nuts over here said it was nothing."

"Damnit Gabby, watch what you say in front of the Commander." Donnelly said, looking up at them. "Are you tryin' to get me fired?"

"We'll all going to get fired if the engine ends up overheating, idiot." She retorted, kicking his leg lightly.

"Wait, what's this about the engine overheating?" Shepard asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "I thought these things just calibrated."

"Essentially, but there's more to it than that." Donnelly answered, rubbing his leg. "The couplings work with the attenuators in the primary power system that channels the field bleed-"

"Kenneth, you're speaking tech." Daniels cut in, turning to Shepard. "Basically what he's saying is that the couplings you got us must have been defected. Normally that wouldn't be so bad, but these seem to really have gone off the deep end. Somehow their managing to mess with the functionality of the louvers, which is increasing pressure loss across the panel and causing reduced air flow. Without that air flow, the engine can't cool down properly."

Shepard rubbed the back of her neck as she tried to understand. "Alright," she said slowly, turning her head slightly as Garrus came up beside them. "So how do we fix it? Can't we just send Garrus down there? He's our resident expert on calibrating things after all."

"Funny, Shepard." he replied, mandibles twitching in what she assumed was a grin. "But calibrating a spaceship's engine and calibrating a gun are hardly the same thing."

"Sorry, commander, but that's a no go anyway." Donnelly answered, standing up. "We've already got Tali down there running damage control by uninstalling the damn things, but the increased strain on the louvers has caused some damage. We're gonna have to get some new ones and soon or we'll be facing even more problems."

"Right." Shepard said, rubbing her itching eyes. "Nothing's ever that simple. Well, we're close enough to Omega to take the shuttle there and back. Can I find these louvers we need there?"

"Definitely, Shepard." Tali answered, popping her head up out of the vent. "Need me to come along?"

"No, you stay here and help Daniels and Donnelly control the situation. Garrus and I can handle this one." Shepard said, glancing at the turian. He gave her a nod and she looked up at the intercom above their heads. "EDI, send the schematics to my omni-tool and get the shuttle prepped. We'll leave in the next ten minutes."

"Understood, Commander." EDI's voice chimed in response.

"Garrus, go get your gear and meet me in the shuttle bay. The rest of you, keep up the work. We'll be back soon."

"You can count on us, ma'am." Daniels said, giving her a salute.

"Thanks a million, Commander." Donnelly added, scratching the back of his neck. "And sorry about all this."

"It's fine." Shepard said, patting his shoulder before turning to leave. "It's not like you're asking me to go on a suicide mission or anything."


	2. The Citadel and the Commander

"You're over-reacting." Shepard said as they stepped into the crowded Omega street. She looked around as they walked, getting her bearings. It was different coming in by the shuttle ports instead of the usual ship docking bays.

"Hardly." Garrus replied, a taloned hand resting against his stomach. "I never would have thought it possible, but your piloting skills are worse than your driving ones."

"Hey, leave my driving out of this." Shepard retorted, riling at the old jab. "I've told you before that the Mako was a complex piece of machinery. And besides, I think I handled it pretty well after the first few tries."

"If by  _pretty well_ , you mean well enough to not flip us over anymore, then oh yeah, you were a regular pro."

Shepard hit him.

"Ouch, fine,  _fine._  Let's agree to disagree." Garrus said, rubbing his wound as he looked around. "Hmm, fastest way to the merchant district would be down that there." He pointed and the two of them set off. They walked side by side, hands and arms occasionally bumping as they were jostled by the busy crowd around them.

"Feels strange being out like this, just the two of us." Garrus commented after a while.

"Really?" Shepard asked, tearing her gaze away from an ad for a model ship store. She made a mental note to stop by there before they left. She glanced over at Garrus, noting the stiffness in his gait as they walked. Did being back on Omega make him tense?  _Of course it does. He lost his whole team here and nearly died himself. You shouldn't have asked him to come._

"Yeah. You're usually all about the 'three-man squad.'" Garrus continued, shouldering his way past a group of arguing vorcha in their path. One of them hissed at the interruption, but didn't dare more than that after spotting the pair's armor and weapons.

Shepard arched her brows Garrus, but didn't comment on his brusque treatment of the vorcha. "Everyone else was still asleep and it made more sense to leave Tali there to help out." she said. She paused, thinking. "Well, Miranda was up. We could have brought her."

Garrus huffed, his mandibles flicking. "And wait for her to do her hair? I don't think the  _Normandy_ could have lasted that long, even with Tali doing damage control."

Shepard grinned, glad she'd brought Garrus along, despite her guilt; the turian always managed to make her feel at ease, regardless of the situation. At times like this it was with his dry wit and sarcastic comments, while on missions it was with the relief that came from knowing someone she trusted had her back.  _It's nice_ , she thought,  _having him around._  It felt easy. Natural, even.

They walked in silence for a time, Garrus leading the way and Shepard taking in the sites. In many ways Omega reminded her of the slums back on Earth. The flashing neon lights, the stores and clubs that never closed, the trash in the streets, the beggers in the alleys…if it weren't for the lack of blue sky and excess of alien faces, she might never have been able to tell the two apart.

She heard Garrus' voice through the din of noises surrounding them, pulling her from her thoughts. "What?" she asked, looking over at him.

"I asked if you were awake over there." He repeated, leading them down a side street. It was emptier than the main one and quieter. "You looked like one of those walking human corpses from Joker's vids. What are they called,  _crumbies_?" he asked, drawing the word out as he tilted his head in concentration.

"Zombies?" Shepard guessed, her mouth twitching at his confusion.

He nodded. "Yeah, those."

She wasn't sure if she should take the comparison as an insult or not. "Actually, I was just thinking of home." she said, and then frowned slightly. Why had she told him that?

Garrus' mandibles flicked. "Your home? Earth, right?"

"Yeah," Shepard answered, eyes watching the mix and match assortment of species that surrounded them. "Though calling it that doesn't make much sense. Haven't been there in years."

"Tell me about it." Garrus said, and Shepard felt her brows rise slightly in surprise.

"Not much to tell." She said, shrugging her shoulders. "The part I grew up in was a lot like Omega, actually. Less aliens though." She added, giving him a pointed look. "In fact, I didn't see a turian in person until years after I joined up with the Alliance."

"A shame you went without such splendor for so long." Garrus commented.

"Without a doubt." she replied. "Had to make do with just beetles before then."

"Beetles?"

Shepard felt the corner of her lip curl as she shook her head. "Forget it."

"Right." They turned another corner.

"What's Palaven like?" Shepard asked after a moment.

"Hot." Garrus answered immediately, giving Shepard the sense there was an old joke there. "First thing I noticed after leaving it was how much  _cooler_ everywhere else was. You other species have it so easy. No wonder you're all so soft."

"Says the turian who can't function without his hot showers, apparently."

Garrus' mandibles flicked again. "Truthfully, though, it's not all that bad. It's more tropical than anything else."

Shepard nodded. "I remember you saying something like that back on..." She trailed off as the memory of that day flashed before her. She pushed the images away and cleared her throat. "Back on Virmire."

"Yeah." Garrus said, giving no indication if he'd noticed her pause or not as he looked around. They'd finally arrived at the marketplace. "Alright, there should be a mech place somewhere around here. Too bad you sent that quarian off, or we could have just gone to him."

"The kid was miserable and deserved a second chance." Shepard explained as they walked past a ramen shop. Her mouth watered as the smell of onions and broth reached them. What were the chances they carried both dextro and levo food there? "Besides, he's the one who sold us the bad parts to begin with.

Garrus shrugged. "Still would have been helpful right now, though."

"Look, there's Marsh's place." Shepard said, pointing to the  _Omega Market._ "He should have something. At the least he'll be able to point us in the right place."

"Good idea. If we're lucky we'll be able to put that hard earned discount of yours to use." Garrus commented, shooting her a sidelong look. She rolled her eyes at him and they made their way over to the store front. It was surprisingly empty, with only two other customers browsing the wares when they arrived. Their backs were to Shepard, but it was enough for her to tell one was human and the other salarian.

"Marsh." She said, walking up to the batarian. He looked up from a datapad on the counter and blinked his eyes.

"Commander Shepard." He greeted, nodding. "Back on Omega?"

"For a bit. I need some parts for the ship." She explained, resting her weight on her forearms as she leaned forward on the counter. Garrus took up a stance beside her, crossing his arms across his chest as he watched the crowd outside the shop.

"Anything I can help with?" Marsh asked as put his datapad away and gave her his full attention.

"I'm looking for these. Know where I can get them?" Shepard asked, opening her omni-tool and bringing the information up. She showed it to Marsh, who read it over. While she waited she watched the other customers from the corner of her eye; their backs were still towards her, but she could see the stiff gestures one of them – the human - was making in Marsh's direction as he spoke.

"Hmm. You're in luck, human. I got pair of those in stock just two days ago. Pretty rare. And costly." He added.

"Good thing I've got that discount then." Shepard commented, focusing her attention back on him. "How much?"

"Five hundred credits."

Shepard examined her gloved hand. "Four hundred."

The batarian sighed. "Four fifty. That's as low as I go, Shepard."

She straightened up. "It'll have to do, I guess." She heard Garrus snort quietly in amusement next to her as she punched her payment information into the nearby kiosk. She shot him a sideways glance, her brows raised. The turian gave her a small shrug and went back to his people watching.

"What dock should I order the delivery to?" he asked, opening up his own omni-tool.

"No dock this time." Shepard answered. "We came by shuttle. Can we just pick the parts up ourselves? We're in a rush."

The batarian frowned. "Hold on," he said as he checked his omni-tool. Shepard glanced over at the other customers, noting that the human was leaving. His posture was stiff as he stalked away, while the salarian seemed to pull into himself in response, huddling over slightly. Shepard raised one her brows; there was something familiar about the way the human had held himself. It was the rigid set of his shoulders as he walked, she decided after a moment. They'd looked almost militaristic; a sharp change against the somewhat hunched form favored by the untrained mercenaries that usually filled the area.

"Alright, it's cleared." Marsh said, pulling her attention back to him. "Here are the coordinates to the warehouse. The guards on duty should know you're coming. If there's any trouble just give em this" he added, handing her a small pink slip.

"Right. Thanks for the help Marsh." Shepard nodded, pocketing the paper, and turned to leave.

Marsh grunted and went back to his datapad. "Come back the next time you need something."

"You'd think with the budget Cerberus gives us you wouldn't need to be such a cheapass." Garrus remarked as they set off down the street.

"A good deal never hurt anyone." Shepard retorted, bringing up a map of the district on her omni-tool. The warehouse was relatively close to them, situated on the southern end of the Tuhi District, but was still far enough away that she found herself debating whether it would just be quicker to take a transit shuttle there or not. She glanced up at the crowd around them, which had thickened up with more humans as the morning had worn on. The transit lines would probably be packed with commuters. "Know any shortcuts to this warehouse?" she asked, showing her omni-tool to Garrus.

"Hmm," he hummed as he leaned over her to look at it. A subtle scent of soap mixed with gun grease surrounded him, and Shepard felt herself swallow slightly. It was an interesting combination and she resisted the urge to breathe in deep. "Yeah, I think so. We could go up through here, but at this time of day we might run into congestion…" He traced out a route with one of his talons, and paused. "Or we could cut through here. We'd save time, but it's not what exactly what you'd call a nice neighborhood."

"There're nice neighborhoods on Omega?" Shepard asked, arching a brow.

"No." Garrus acknowledged, scratching slightly at the scars on his face. "But some are worse than others. And this one's not one I'd usually take a woman to, even if she is the  _great_  Commander Shepard."

Shepard felt the corner of her mouth tug into a small smile. "You know this place better than I do. It's your call, Vakarian." She added, looking at him from the corner of her eyes.

His mandibles twitched at the familiar words turned around on him. "Well...I suppose we did clean this place out pretty good the last time we here. I can't imagine there's anything formidable enough left to give a Spectre trouble if she decided to take a stroll down some dingy back alley."

"Then it's settled. Lead the way, Garrus." Shepard said, closing her omni-tool. "And don't worry. I'll protect you if we run into anything too nasty."

"And I'll be sure to take the kill shots when you miss, like always." Garrus replied, tilting his head at her before leading the way down the hectic street.  _Is he sauntering?_ She wondered as he strode off.  _Can turians even saunter?_

Shepard  _humphed_  quietly to herself before following after him and silence fell between the two once again. It was an easy silence, the kind that said almost as much as words ever could. Neither of the pair noticed this, however, as they walked side by side, both too absorbed in their own observations of their surroundings; their eyes scanned the multitude of faces that passed them with the habitual ease that came from years of experience in combat, taking note of the frequent individuals who, like them, carried weapons and glancing over those that didn't. Occasionally, Shepard found herself distracted by one neon ad or another and after a few blocks one holovid in particular caught her attention. She slowed to a stop as she looked at it closer.

" _Eden Prime, a colonial paradise."_ a deep voice-over narrated as scenes of a tranquil countryside flashed across the screen. _"Hallmark of humanity and symbol of peace in a universe as dangerous as it is beautiful._

_But how safe is it really?"_

"Shepard?" Garrus asked, coming up beside her.

"Shhh!" she hissed, waving a hand at him. The scene in the vid changed, showing a sleek warship drifting through deep space. Two new voices appeared, a cool female one that sounded asari, followed by slightly higher pitched on that might have been salarian.

"' _We've got reports of instability along the Geth border. The Alliance is sending in its best marine to look into the situation.'_

' _What use is a single human?'_

' _She won't be alone. A turian Spectre named Nihlus is going with her.'_

' _A turian? And a human? This won't end well.'"_

The scene flashed to a regal looking turian, posture rigid and proud as he stared up at a monitor. The hiss of a door opening came from somewhere off-screen and he turned.

"' _Ah, Commander Shepard...I was hoping we'd get the chance to speak.'"_

Shepard felt her eyes go wide as the shot panned to side to showcase the newly arrived voluptuous woman.

"' _Nihlus.'_ The woman said in greeting, her voice a tantalizing purr that oozed power with every syllable. She walked forward, her hips swaying dangerously with each step, and paused inches away from the taller turian. They held each other's gaze for a moment as a soft instrumental melody rose in the background. Then, in rush of movement, the two embraced, touching their foreheads together as their arms pulled the other close.

Shepard's mouth dropped.

The trailer continued, flashing between different scenes: a colony burning as armed Geth marched across it; an armor clad and heartbroken woman cradling the prone turian in her arms; her passionate vow of revenge against the rogue Spectre behind it all; explosions and gunshots as she raced across the galaxy in hunt of him; and finally, as the music reached its crescendo, her final arrival at the besieged Citadel, gun held tight in her hand as she watched the silent war between organics and synthetics overhead.

" _From the man who brought you the record breaking hit,_ Fleet and Flotilla,  _Francis Kit delivers his next masterpiece. As the galaxy faces it's greatest threat, one woman will rise to face it:_ The Citadel and the Commander _, coming to HV in 2186 C.E"_

The scene faded to black, changing after a moment to an ad for the new Cision Pro Mark 4 toothbrush. Shepard stood there, staring.

Eventually, the sound of Garrus clearing his throat next to her broke her stupor. She turned to him. "Did you know about, about…" She struggled for a word for what she'd seen. "about  _this?_ " she finally got out, gesturing wildly towards the holo-screen.

Garrus shifted. "I'd, uh, heard some rumors. Didn't know it was already in production."

"You heard rumors." Shepard repeated, staring at him.

"Yeah."

"…and you never thought about, I don't know,  _mentioning_  it?"

The turian gave her a weak shrug. "I just assumed you'd already heard…" He trailed off, looking at the screen, then flicked his mandibles. "Never knew you had a thing for aliens, Shepard."

" _Vakarian."_

Garrus cleared his throat again. "Right, dropping it."


	3. Challenges

"'You're over-reacting.'" Garrus quoted, his voice tinted with just a smidge of satisfaction as he led them through the narrow and crammed street. Tall, rusted, metallic buildings fenced them in on either side, disappearing into the haze of steam that hovered meters above their heads. Kiosks and merchant stands were carved into the sides of the buildings, their wide array of wares a testament to the diverse population that was packed into what little space was left on the street.

"I don't want to talk about it." Shepard grumbled from just behind him, pressed close due to the thick crowd. It still felt a little strange being out together like this, with Garrus in the lead and no third squadmate around. It wasn't exactly different in a bad way, though; in fact, the morning had proven to be rather entertaining so far, aside from when he'd been sure Shepard's piloting was going to succeed where both Reapers and Collectors had failed and finally put an end to infamous human Spectre once and for all – tag along turian included.

"So the movie got a few things wrong." He continued, his sub harmonics radiating his amusement. Not for the first time, he found himself glad Shepard couldn't understand them. At least, he reflected as his mandibles flicked with doubt, he didn't think she could. He'd realized over the last few months that she'd become remarkably good at reading turian body language for a human.

"I  _don't_  want to talk about it." she repeated, and his peripherals caught the way the lines of hair over each of her eyes – what were they called again? Eyebrews? – lowered dangerously. He let his mandibles flare into a smile.

"Alright, alright." he said, scratching at his scars as they waited for a group of batarians to move out of the way. Spirits, he'd forgotten how  _cramped_ everything was in this part of Omega.  _I'll die a happy turian if I never set another foot in this hell-hole after this._

"I barely even  _knew_ him." Shepard almost groaned a moment later, incredulous, and he glanced over his shoulder at her.

"Thought you didn't want to talk about it?"

"How did they even come up with that? I mean, we couldn't have known each other for longer than a couple of days before reaching Eden Prime. Who falls in love in just _two days_?" she continued, her hands gesturing helplessly in an attempt to get her point across.

"Impressive. Never knew you were such a fast worker, Shepard." Garrus commented.

"This can't be legal. Don't I at least get some sort of say in this?"Shepard went on, seemingly unaware of Garrus' input.

"Maybe. Well, you would if the galaxy didn't think you were dead anyway." Garrus said. "I don't think deceased Spectres have all that many rights, sorry."

"I'm going to write them an email." Shepard stated. "I'll send it to that producer, what's his name? Kit something? I'll tell him the whole story, let him know how wrong he got it."

"Right." Garrus hummed, once again pausing as their path was blocked, this time by a pair of krogan. The two were arguing over something, one of which was pointing to a nearby sushi stall. Garrus took the opportunity throw another glance back at Shepard. His mandibles flicked.

"Shepard," he said, turning back around. "Not to interrupt, but we're being followed."

"Hmm?" she said, looking up at him from the message she'd been typing on her omni-tool. "The salarian? Yeah, he's been tailing us since we left Marsh's. Think he's a mugger?"

"No, too well-armed for that." Garrus answered, watching as the krogan who'd been pointing at the sushi place head-butted the other. He wasn't surprised Shepard had noticed their stalker, even as…'distracted' as she had been from that trailer. "I'm thinking merc."

"Eclipse maybe?" Shepard asked, shutting her omni-tool and stepping to the side as the krogan finally moved out of the way.

"Possibly." The salarian wasn't wearing the merc group's armor or yellow colors, though. From the few glances Garrus had gotten of him, he'd placed their follower as middle-aged – mid twenties to early thirties for a salarian – and picked out the outline of at least one gun hidden underneath his somewhat baggy brown suit.

Shepard paused to look at a stall selling the strange human hats Joker always wore, and Garrus caught the quick glance she shot at him from the corner of her eyes. "Do you think someone recognized you?" she asked quietly, her movements casual as she picked up a cap up that had  _I love my Captain_ written across it in glittery pink letters.

Garrus looked away. "Unlikely..." He said slowly, scratching at his scars. He'd done well at remaining anonymous back during his time here; few had ever connected him personally to the notorious Archangel. Even more, most of those who had were all dead now, either from Sidonis' treachery or Garrus' own hand.

His mandibles twitched as he thought of the other turian, impatience burning within him. He would find Sidonis, someday – of that Garrus had no doubt. Sidonis  _would_  pay for what he'd done. It was the time until then, the helpless  _waiting_  while that bastard went free somewhere out there, that haunted Garrus, hovering in his mind just as clearly as the name's carved into his visor did in his eyes.

"…but still possible." Shepard said, her words bringing Garrus back from his thoughts. She put the cap back down, shaking her head slightly, and gestured for him to lead the way. "I should have considered that before bringing you here with me." Her voice was softer than he was used to, the always seemingly flat human tone laced with an emotion he couldn't quite identify. Confused, he glanced over at her – easier now that the street had widened a little and they were able to walk side by side – but her face was smooth as she continued her supposedly innocent sightseeing.

Garrus  _hmphed._  "And what, brought Miranda along instead? I can only imagine all the fun you two would be having right now."

He'd have been lying if he said the quick smirk that spread over Shepard's face at his words didn't send a small shiver of satisfaction through him. "She's really not so bad, you know. There's a decent person in there if you just look hard enough."

"Right, well, I'll leave that to you. Not sure a Cerberus agent would appreciate a turian staring at her for overly long periods of time, regardless of the reasons." Again one of the corners of Shepard's lips rose in amusement.

"Probably a good idea when you put it that way. Speaking of which," she said, as they turned onto a street that, like the one had before, opened up wider. They weren't far from their destination now, their impending arrival hinted at by the change in the buildings on either side of them; they'd grown larger and less populous as they'd traveled from merchant to warehouse district. "How do you want to handle our new friend?"

Garrus glanced over at her. "You want me to decide?"

Shepard nodded "I do. Like I said earlier, you know this place better than me. And besides," she added, lowering her voice as something flashed in her eyes – was that amusement? Was she enjoying this? "We've already established there's a good chance that this has something to do with a certain turian vigilante. I'm curious to see how the infamous Archangel handles himself on his home turf."

The Archangel in question shifted slightly, rolling his head around on his shoulders. The ghosts of his mistakes hovered in his eyes, staring as he walked by. He coughed. "Yeah, maybe you should just take this one, Shepard. Don't want to steal your thunder, as you humans say."

Shepard turned her head towards him, the lines of hair above her eyes lowering slightly as she looked at him. Her gaze felt heavy on him, and he resisted the urge to fidget underneath it. When she spoke, however, her tone was light, almost mocking even. "What's wrong, Vakarian? Afraid of showing off for your commanding officer?"

 _Afraid of getting her killed_ , he thought quietly. Just like he had all the others. Still, the challenge in Shepard's voice had been clear and Garrus Vakarian had never been one to back down. He met her eyes. "If you insist. Just try not to be too impressed, Shepard. Can't have you distracted with thoughts of trying for a repeat of your last solo  _liaison_  with a turian."

He turned away, fighting to keep his mandibles from flaring with laughter at the expression she made, and strode forward.


	4. Just Tech

"Not much of a plan, Garrus." Shepard remarked, her face partially hidden behind stray strands of hair as she examined the screen of her omni-tool. "But still, I like it." The turian adjusted his weight from one foot to the other, the approval in her tone easing the knot of tense muscles just beneath his carapace.

"Well, you're the one who said plans never seem to really work out in our line of work. Figured we might as well try and keep this one as uncomplicated as possible, just in case." He leaned forward slightly to see the screen from over her shoulder, breathing in the subtle scent that surrounded her as he got closer. Despite himself, he found his gaze lingering on the glowing strands of hair for a moment; they almost seemed to shine in the dim, shifting Omega light, reflecting the muted copper colors back in a myriad of new ones. It really was rather remarkable, the sheen that most human hair had.  _How does Shepard keep hers so polished?_  He'd heard once, back in his C-Sec days, that humans had a special sort of soap just for their hair, separate from the kind they used to wash their bodies. Was that really true? He'd have to look that up when they got back to the  _Normandy._

"Looks like we're almost there," Shepard said, shifting his attention back to the omni-tool. They were only a couple of blocks away from the warehouse now. She traced a small line on the map nearby their current position. "This alley's close enough that we should have enough time if we move fast."

"Works for me." He commented, straightening up as she closed the glowing interface.

"You ready?" Shepard asked softly, cracking her knuckles.

"Always." he replied, anticipation narrowing his eyes slightly. His talons twitched, longing for his Mantis.

They turned the corner.

Shepard disappeared.

Not completely, of course. The telltale flicker of her Tactical Cloak as she activated it was gone in less than a blink, but even the best tech upgrades couldn't make her completely invisible. Not that that kept Shepard from trying, though. In the few seconds it took for her cloak to activate fully she'd already slipped away from him and blended into the crowd seamlessly. In fact, he admitted silently, if it weren't for his visor's biofeedback monitors Garrus himself would have lost track of her just as easily as any other civilian on the street had.

Just as easily, for example, as a certain salarian stalker would.

"See him?" Garrus muttered as he continued walking down the street. The amount of people on it had thinned out considerably as they'd gotten further into the warehouse district, but it was still as busy as one might expect from a place as crowded as Omega. Still, at least he could walk without having to stop every few feet as a larger group blocked the way.

"Not yet," Shepard's voice crackled in his ear. He kept one eye on his visor's monitor, watching as she paused just beside the corner they'd come from. "Guess he was further back than- got him."

Another heart rate appeared close to Shepard's as it approached the corner. Garrus sped up, closing the distance between him and the alley. It was located a little less than halfway down the block, a narrow corridor between two rusted storage houses that was just wide enough to fit a pair of krogan standing side by side. Garrus' mandibles twitched as his visor picked up the readings of another life form coming from inside it. He wasn't surprised; finding an empty alley on Omega was about as likely to happen as finding a live Prothean buried away in cyro on a backwater colony somewhere after all.

Behind him, the salarian finally rounded the corner. Garrus slowed slightly, giving his follower a chance to spot him, and continued on. He kept close to a group of vorcha and watched his monitor as he waited. Sure enough, the salarian's heart rate, already high, began to increase a moment later as he realized he couldn't get a visual on one of his targets. It continued to climb as he sped up, likely assuming Shepard was hidden from sight by Garrus and the group of vorcha. Garrus waited, his breath slowing as adrenaline began to flow through him.  _Almost there,_  he thought as the salarian neared the alley.

Garrus slowed.

The salarian's heart raced.

"Here we go, Shepard." the turian muttered, and turned around.

The salarian almost jumped at Garrus' sudden movement. His heart rate, on the other hand, actually did; the readings in Garrus' monitor spiked as the salarian panicked at the threat of discovery. He looked around, his head snapping viciously in different directions before settling on the nearby alleyway, and then powerwalked into it the dank space as casually as one might any shop on the Citadel.

A moment later, Garrus mandibles flared into a smile as a high-pitched squeal crackled into his ear.

* * *

Shepard slammed the salarian against the wall, her Cloak flickering out as she did so. He turned his face to the side to keep it from being bashed into the hard metal, and his visible eye opened wide with shock. He opened his mouth to cry out, and Shepard casually pulled upward on one of his arms. His squeaked in pain as his arm was bent into the unnatural position behind his back.

"Looking for someone?" Shepard asked as she relieved the pressure on his arm slightly. Then, before he could reply, she turned towards the vorcha huddled further down in the alley and added, "Mind giving us a minute?"

The vorcha hissed, but otherwise seemed unsurprised by the sudden assault before him. He stood up, muttering something indistinguishable – Shepard thought she caught the words 'filty' and 'human' several times, but couldn't be sure – and then walked away, disappearing into the busy street just to their right.

"W-wait, what? You can't just leave me here!" the salarian cried after it, and Shepard turned back to him.

"Tell me why you're following us and I might let you live." she said, her tone flat.

"I-I I'm not," he stuttered, fright tripping the words as they came out. "I-Who are you? Let me-" he cut off with a gasp as she once again twisted his arm upwards.

"Tell me why you're following us." Shepard repeated.

The salarian whimpered, his body going limp in Shepard's arms. "I can't believe this is happening," he rambled, "I told him I wasn't cut out for this. 'Only tech' I said, 'No field work'. Would have joined the STG if I wanted to-"

Shepard tightened her grip on his arm slightly. "Told _who_?"

"I-I don't know his name! None of us do!" the salarian cried. "He goes by the alias Ghost, makes all of us call him that. Says real names are too dangerous."

Shepard tilted her head to look at Garrus as he joined them in the alley. "What is it with you people and the 'codenames' on this place?" she asked with a sigh.

The turian shrugged. "Never heard of him before. Must be new."

She turned back to her stalker. "Tell me everything you know about this 'Ghost'."

"He's human, ex-Alliance. Started up personal merc group awhile back, recruited me for tech only. Promised I wouldn't have to do field work, stay in the back, away from the bullets and pai-" The salarian breathed in sharply as Shepard gently pulled up on his arms. "Takes odd jobs, protection and such."

"And why did he have you follow us?"

"Not following 'us', following  _you_. Said you were a ghost, just like him. Commander Shepard, the dead spectre that took down Saren. Said he was crazy, but he wouldn't listen. Said we could ransom you, that they were people who'd pay a lot of money for you. Said I had to keep track of you while he got plans ready. Told him that wasn't tech, not appropriately trained in tracking. Said no choice."

"What did he mean, plans?"

"Don't know, went separate ways. Was supposed to follow until he contacted me. Probably ambush, but can't be sure."

"Has he contacted you since Marsh's?"

The salarian twitched, obviously surprised. "N-no, that was last time."

She paused, thinking. "Where can I find him?"

"Don't know. Merc band only arrived here yesterday. No base of operations, thus no viable location for supposed whereabouts."

"Think harder." Shepard tugged on his arm.

"I swear, that's all I know!" the salarian said, his one visible eye blinking furiously.

He twitched beneath her hold, his body shaking with each breath. Shepard flexed her grip on his arms, feeling the ripples of tension that shot through him at her slight movement. She waited.

"S-spent time at Afterlife, maybe there. Otherwise, no idea. Don't know anything else, have to believe me!"

"I do." she said and the salarian sagged visibly, relief sweating out of him.

Shepard smashed his head into the wall and let him drop to the ground, unconscious.

"Harsh." Garrus commented from behind her, where he was leaning idly against the wall.

"Maybe." Shepard admitted, looking down at the salarians prone body. "He'll wake up with a headache and sore shoulders, but at least he'll wake up."

"Why not just kill him? He's a merc, Shepard. Scum like all the rest of them." Garrus said, his tone low. Shepard glanced over at him, noting the way his eyes narrowed as he stared at the body. The look on his face was one she'd never seen back when they'd first met; back when he'd just been Officer Vakarian, the C-Sec employee frustrated almost to his breaking point by all the rules and regulations he believed did nothing but help the criminals get away.

 _He had anger in his eyes back then_ , she thought as she watched him,  _but never this level of burning hatred, whatever he said._ No, this was the face of 'Archangel' that she saw now, the turian Garrus had become in order to survive. This was the side of him that had always been there, the one that thought only of justice and vengeance, brought out in full strength now that he was back in the place it had first been born in.

 _I never should have brought him,_ Shepard thought.

"He's harmless, Garrus. Just an idiot who made some mistakes and got in over his head. He doesn't deserve to die for that." Shepard said, holding the turian's gaze with her own as she added, slightly softer, "We all make mistakes."

He looked away, giving her one of his shrugs.

"It's your call, Shepard."

Silence crowded the alleyway. Shepard scratched her cheek and looked down at the salarian. She bent over him as she examined his head wound, double-checking to make sure she hadn't gotten too carried away. She heard Garrus shift behind her, but didn't turn around. He coughed lightly a moment later, the sound harsh and sharp in the otherwise quiet alley.

"So, how do you want to handle this 'Ghost' anyway?" he asked a few moments later, his tone back to its normal octave. "I think I remember Joker mentioning something about human holy men usually being called in on cases like this."

Shepard's lip curled as she wondered what horror vid he'd watched that had given him that idea. "I don't think an exorcist would help us all that much here." She paused, staring at the salarian's uncounscious face. Somehow, she'd forgotten how dangerous Omega could be, even for a Spectre like her. They were ridiculously outnumbered, thousands against just their two.  Coming here without any back up aside from Garrus had been reckless, especially since the two of them combined apparently had enough enemies out there that even shopping put them at risk. Garrus and her might be the best, but Shepard had no illusions about how this would end if she pushed their luck and wasted time hunting down a single merc group among the hundreds that called Omega home. She couldn't afford to accidentally die here because one merc was out to get rich quick, not when she still had too much to do.

Not when the Collectors were still out there.

She exhaled as she made her decision, turning back to Garrus with an arched brow. "Honestly, there's not enough time in a _good_ day to track down all the people who want me dead, and we're already running late as it is. I'll have EDI or Miranda look into this guy when we get back to the  _Normandy_. Maybe they'll be able to dig something up on him. For now, let's just go get those parts and get out off this hellhole."

Garrus straightened up and gestured for her to lead the way. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're finally getting to the action bits! (sorry it took so long~) Not much to say about this one, other than that I decided to make this Shepard an Infiltrator, so sorry for those of you who don't really go that way. The references to it are light, though, so they should be easy to ignore. Anyway, that's it, so hope you guys enjoy : )


	5. Ting

"I think this is it," Shepard said, looking down at her omni-tool. She closed the glowing interface and raised her head, craning her neck slightly as she gazed up at the multistory building across the street from them. It was a towering circular construction of rusted metal and exposed pipes that pushed high into the Omega sky, its roof lost among the dark and smog as it climbed up past even the horde of shuttles that raced overhead. Shepard arched a brow. "It's bigger than I thought it'd be."

She turned to Garrus as he came up beside her. He gave the building a cursory glance and then tilted his head dismissively. "It's not all Marsh's, if that's what you're thinking. Each floor's usually reserved by a single vendor, rented from whatever crimelord owns the building."

Shepard nodded. "Makes sense. But which floor's Marsh's?" She eyed the massive tower again, resisting the urge to shudder as she tried to calculate just how long an elevator ride to the top might take.  _A galaxy wide civilization that utilizes FTL drives, and yet we still use elevators slower than a sleepwalking Elcor._

"There's usually a registry on the first floor." Garrus answered, nodding his head towards the set of front doors. Shepard glanced again at the hulking mass before them, hesitating. "What?" he asked.

She rubbed the back of her hand across her forehead. "Nothing's ever easy for us, is it?"

Garrus mandibles twitched. "Not usually, no."

"Chances are  _something's_ going to happen in there."

"Probably, yeah."

"Can't ever just be a simple, routine pick up."

Garrus scratched his scars. "Well, there was that one time on…never mind, forgot about the batarian slavers."

Shepard  _hmphed_ at the memory. They stood there, both staring at the tower before them.

Finally, she sighed and reached over her back, unholstering her Widow. "Right. Let's get this over with."

* * *

They walked into the building, Garrus falling in slightly behind Shepard as she led them towards the glowing VI situated just in front of the large, utility-sized elevator directly across from the front doors. He did a quick scan of the otherwise empty room, observing the five other people who were scattered about it. Three of them – a group of one volus with two heavily armored krogans – were off to the left, where a set of public terminals were situated along the wall. The other two were a pair of turians that flanked either side of the elevator, wearing matching armor with their assault rifles drawn. Garrus noticed their relaxed postures, guns angled towards the floor as they chatted to one another.  _Sloppy,_ he thought, considering Shepard and he both had their own weapons drawn.

"Good evening." the VI greeted as they approached it, its asari silhouette glowing in the dimly lit room. "How may I assist you today?"

"I need to know which floor's the storeroom for the  _Omega Market._ " Shepard said, angling her hips slightly as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.  _She's restless,_ Garrus noted, feeling his grip on his Mantis tighten in response.

"The  _Omega Market_ is currently registered to the batarian merchant Marsh, who has taken out a lease for the forty-third floor." the VI answered, smiling at them. Shepard glanced at Garrus, jabbing her heads toward the elevator, and the two of them walked over to it. The guards eyed at them as they approached, but otherwise reacted very little as Shepard pressed the call button. To their credit, the two guards  _had_  paused their conversation, which was something at least, thought Garrus as they all stood there in silence. He looked over his Mantis as they waited, watching Shepard roll her shoulders around in his peripherals.

The elevator arrived a moment later as the doors opened with a small hiss. Shepard looked over at him, arching one her brows at him.  _You ready?_

He gave a small shrug in response.  _Always._

They stepped into the elevator.

* * *

Lein Orhe hated Omega. But then again, he hated pretty much everywhere else too.

The only place he'd ever really liked, he reflected as he sat at his desk overlooking the storeroom for level thirty-four, had been Sur'Kesh. Of course, even then he hadn't been completely happy; all that pressure to get the best marks, to pick the best field, to find the best mate….not to mention all of the ridiculous etiquette a person had to know if they wanted to get anywhere there. For a species that had such short lives, salarians sure were brutal when it came to remembering just who threw the best dinner parties and who'd gotten drunk off the shardwine and spent the evening crying in the shower.

So no, Lein Orhe hadn't really like Sur' Kesh either, he decided.

"Mr. Orhe," the VI interrupted, flickering to life beside his desk.

"What is it now?" he sighed, resting his head in his hands.

"There appears to be a situation on Level Forty-Three."

He picked his head up. "What kind of situation?"

"I do not know, sir. Surveillance footage of the level has ceased."

Lein tapped the fingers of one hand against his desk.  _It's that damn volus again. He's up there dicking around with that suit-rat, and now they've gone and crossed the wires or something._ "Comm Goran and tell him I want him down here with answers, now."

"I apologize, sir, but attempts to contact the Floor Manager have been unsuccessful."

"What?"

"Attempts to cont-"

Lein waved his hand at the VI. "Yes, yes I heard you the first time." He leaned back in his chair, blinking slowly, and then stood up with a sigh.  _This is the final straw,_ he thought as he walked over to the elevator and pressed the call button.  _I don't care who his uncle is, Goran's not worth the trouble. I'll-_

His train of thought crashed as the doors opened. Lein blinked, taking in the human-turian pair before him. Both were heavily armored and, more pressingly, both had ridiculously large guns held casually before them. He eyed the turian's, wondering if perhaps the scarred merc was compensating for something. Lein blinked again, deciding it safer not to ask, and walked into the elevator. This was Omega, after all; if he skipped an elevator or shuttle every time there was a pair of armed thugs in it, he'd still be stuck at the docking bays.

Still, Lein felt a small tingling sensation shiver through him when he saw that the call button for level forty-three was already lit up. He turned his head slightly, looking over his shoulder at the pair behind him. He didn't recognize them, but then again he wasted as little attention as possible on the riff-raff hired on as 'security' for the building so that hardly meant anything. Were they involved in whatever it was Goram was doing up there somehow? He eyed the human, waiting to see if her face jogged anything in his memory. She met his eyes and raised a brow at him.

Lein sniffed and turned around.

The elevator  _tinged_  softly as they passed a level.

Someone shifted behind him.

_Ting._

Lein blinked.

_Ting._

Someone cleared their throat.

_Ting._

Had the elevator always been this slow?

_Ting._

Behind him, Lein heard the sound of something metallic clicking.

_Ting._

Why were there guns drawn, anyway?

_Ting._

Surely they weren't expecting anything dangerous this far up in the tower.

_Ting._

That's what the guards on the lower levels were for.

_Ting._

Nothing could get this high up, not without him knowing anyway.

_Ting._

About time the damn thing-

Something small and round flew through the opening doors, bouncing as it struck the floor. Lein blinked down at it. Was that a-

"Oh, crap." The turian said from behind him.

"Move!" the human shouted as she rammed into Lein, the sudden force knocking the air from his lungs. He crashed onto the floor as she rolled past him. He blinked his eyes, his vision blurred as he tried to push himself up. Lein sniffed, smelling blood somewhere.

"What in the wor-" Something exploded behind him, cutting him off as it sent the salarian sprawling to the ground once again amid a flash of heat and light. His head slammed into something hard and pain darkened his vision. He blinked a couple of times, trying to shake it off, but finally just gave in and let the darkness surround him as one last thought struggled through his mind.

Lein Orhe hated Omega.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is really short, but it's been over a week since I updated this and I figured something was better than nothing, right? School and work's kinda crazy right now, but I'll try to keep such long gaps from happening again, promise~ Anyway, hope you guys liked it!


	6. Ghost

Garrus ducked behind a crate, drawing his Mantis close. He scanned the room with his visor; three heartbeats pulsed directly in front of him, and thirty-two degrees to the left of those were another four. Yet another group – a set of two – were fifteen degrees up and over to the right of those, hunkered down on an upper level that encircled the room. Garrus turned his head, searching. He spotted the salarian from earlier, unconscious but alive just beside the elevator. But where was-

Sparks flew inches away from his face as a bullet grazed the crate's metal. Garrus cursed and ducked further down. He took a quick glance at his monitor and then popped around the corner, detonating a quick Overload followed by two pulls of the trigger before retreating back down. One of the heartrates cut off as his bullet found its mark in the owner's right eye, but the other merely spiked as his second bullet took down what was left of the merc's shield. Garrus reloaded as he scanned through the room again, searching for the familiar bio readings he'd somehow missed in his first sweep.

_Damnit, Shepard, where the hell are you?_

Seemingly in answer, a heart rate spiked from the loft-like area in front of him, jumping erratically before abruptly disappearing. He turned his head in its direction, watching through his monitor's thermal readings as a new silhouette raced towards the remaining merc. Garrus exhaled, releasing the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as he watched Shepard close in on her target. She paused as she came up behind it, placing her gun inches away from the oblivious mercs skull.

A sharp series of  _cracks_ echoed through the room and the merc's heart rate cut off.

"That's two to one, Garrus. I expected better from Archangel." Shepard's voice crackled in his ear.

Garrus flicked his mandible as he ducked out of his cover and fired, finishing the merc he'd left earlier. "Figured I'd give you a head start, try and make things fair." he said as he knelt back down.  
Shepard laughed, the sound raw and full, and Garrus felt his own pulse quicken in response. "Just try and keep up this time, Vakarian." she almost sang as static fizzed in his ear, telling him she'd reCloaked. "Switching to Cryo ammo."

"Two on your six." Garrus told her as the pair of mercs reached her level. He gave a quick survey of the room, settling on a group of three that had circled around to his right in an attempt to flank him. He doubled over and ran to cover behind another crate, feeling his shield flicker as it held against the enemy's fire. Garrus took in a quick breath and then released it as he stood up and aimed. "Firing Concussive shot!" he yelled, pulling the trigger and sending the modded ammo soaring.

It smashed into the middle merc, taking down his biotic barrier and blasting the entire group into the wall behind them. Garrus took the opportunity, finishing the biotic with a shot to the head before the other two had a chance to shake off their stupor. Then he let loose, whittling down one's shield with four consecutive shots before finally retreating back down behind his own cover. He searched for Shepard as he reloaded.

She'd disappeared from the upper level, leaving two fresh bodies to join the other pair. His eyes darted from the stairs to the ladders that led up to the loft, looking for her thermal readings and finding nothing. He swore inwardly as adrenaline pulsed through him. How the hell was he supposed to watch her back if he couldn't even find the damn thing to begi-

Something  _cold_ shot past him, close enough that the hide on the good side of his face tingled from the chill. A strangled gurgle followed it and Garrus spun around, gun aimed and his finger hovering over its trigger. He lowered it slightly as he spotted the now ice encased merc just feet away from him, frozen with its own gun raised in his direction. Quick as a breath, another bullet whizzed past Garrus and sent the merc shattering.

"Watch your ass, Garrus." Shepard's voice was hard, any traces of her earlier teasing gone. Later, when they got back to the ship, Garrus knew she'd make a joke out of it all. She'd mock him for his slow reflexes. She'd say he was getting old, tell him he was going soft from sitting in that battery calibrating all the time. But right now, here in the middle of it all, she wasn't that Shepard. She was his commander, and she didn't have time for the friendly jibes. All she had time for was keeping them both alive and making sure there  _was_  a later back on the ship.

And Garrus knew this because once he'd been the one saying that very thing. Once, in a different time in a place not unlike this one, he'd been the leader whose only purpose had been to get his men out alive.

He tightened his grip on his Mantis, turning back around and firing a shot into the eye of the shieldless merc. He denoted an Overload on the other one as the first dropped, and then sent his next bullet through the middle of the stunned merc's forehead.

Garrus might have failed his men – his friends – back then, but he would be damned if he failed Shepard.

* * *

Shepard uncloaked as the last merc fell, lowering her gun slowly as she scanned the room for any they might have missed. She'd counted ten mercs when the assault had begun, and she counted ten bodies now when it was over.

"Five to five, Shepard." Garrus' voice said in her ear. She turned her gaze to where he was standing on the lower level of the floor, looking up at her with his head cocked to the side and his rifle held loosely in his hands. "Guess that head-start helped you out after all, hmm."

Her lip twitched. "Not as much as my bullets did you, Vakarian."

Garrus glanced towards the mess of merc and ice behind him. "What that? Come on, Shepard, did you forget you're looking at  _the_  Arch-Angel? I knew he was there the whole time."

"Uh-huh."

Shepard collapsed her Widow and rehooked it behind her back as she headed down the flight of stairs beside her. She paused at the end of it, bending down to look at the small pile of corpses behind a nearby group of crates. Three humans, all taken down by headshots.  _Smug bastard,_ she thought, already imagining the look Garrus would have on his face at his handiwork.

"Admiring the view, Shepard?" Garrus asked, coming up next to her. She glanced up at him form the corner of her eye and bit down a smirk when she saw she really had pegged his expression; mandibles gently spread, showing just a hint of his sharp teeth, and eyes slightly narrowed, the bright blue burning with the intensity of some emotion.  _Satisfaction, maybe? Pride?_  "I could give you some pointers, you know. All you have to do is ask."

She narrowed her own eyes. "I didn't see you complaining about my aim when it was saving your ass, Garrus."

His mandibles twitched. "Again with that? And I'm not saying you don't know your way around a gun, Shepard. But there is a certain difference between proficiency and…well, artistry, really."

Shepard rolled her eyes and turned back to the bodies in front of her. The mercs – two women and one man – all wore some sort of armor, but lacked any real cohesion aside from that. The colors and designs were varied, and Shepard could find nothing that even remotely indicated the three had once been united together in merc band. "Whoever these guys are, they're obviously just starting out."

She saw Garrus nod in her peripherals. "Their tactics were sloppy. Didn't look like they were used to fighting in teams."

"New recruits, then?" Shepard's forehead creased with concentration.  _The salarian said they'd only been here a couple of days, so unless they brought these guys to Omega with them…_

"That merc must have lied to us, Shepard. There's no way this Ghost guy could have recruited so many new members in just a couple of days, trust me." Garrus said, finishing her thought. She saw his grip tighten on his Mantis and felt her own hand twitch in response.

"And they were waiting for us. Somehow they knew we were coming here." Shepard continued.  _Setting all this up must have taken a lot of effort on their part, so why risk it by sending the recruits to catch us?_

_Unless the recruits weren't meant to catch us._

"Garrus," Shepard said, reaching back for her Widow as she began to stand up. "Get re-"

She hissed softly as floodlights blazed to life around them, their intensity stinging her unadjusted eyes. In one motion, swift from habit, she uncollapsed her Widow and reached to activate her Tactical Cloak.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Shepard." a voice called from somewhere above them, "Not unless you want us to pump that turian there with plasma."

Shepard paused, throwing a glance at Garrus. He had his Mantis up and aimed into the white mass of light above them, probably relying more on his visor than his own sight. His eyes met hers for a moment, then he sweeped the room with them before coming back to hers.  _They're all around us_ , the movement said.

She blinked in acknowledgement and turned her focus to where she'd placed the voice, just above them in the center of the upper landing. It was a vague position, but she was pretty sure the voice was close enough to her target for a Sabotage to work if she was careful.  _It'll be risky, but if we move fast enough the explosion should give us-_

"I mean it, Shepard. Try anything and your friend dies." the voice said, making her hesitate as something flickered in the back of her mind.  _I know that voice,_ she realized as she narrowed her eyes to try and see past the light.  _But where…?_ "But then that's never really mattered to you before, has it  _Commander_?" the voice continued as a silhouette walked forward, growing clearer with each step.

Shepard felt her breath catch as she recognized the face that looked down at her.

After all, how couldn't she? She'd spent weeks etching every detail of that face – along with the forty-nine others – into her memory after what happened on Akuze, pouring over their personal files again and again and again until her eyes blurred and burned. It was the face that had been in her dreams night after night, broken with fear and pain as it was pulled underground by something as dark and terrifying as a nightmare itself. It was the face whose screams were so loud they'd stayed with her even when she would jerk awake, her body coated with cold sweat and heaving with adrenaline.

It was the face of a dead man who'd never died, a ghost she'd thought she'd finally put to rest years ago.

"Toombs?" she whispered.


	7. Scars and Medi-gel

"Toombs, is that really you?" Shepard asked, her voice louder this time. There was something else in it, too; an emotion that made the syllables sharp, the words raw. Garrus glanced over at her, ignoring the unease that screamed at him when he took his eyes off the group of armed mercs above them.

Shepard's eyes were opened wide, despite the discomfort the harsh light must have caused her that way, and the lines of hair above them were low and close. The barrel of her gun had fallen slightly so that it no longer pointed directly towards their assailants. He felt his grip on his own gun tighten in response.

 _Toombs?_ The name was vaguely familiar as he repeated it to himself, yet he couldn't remember why. Garrus turned back to the human above them; he was a seemingly average man with a tan, square face.

"Surprised, Shepard?" Toombs asked as he rubbed a gloved hand across his jaw, scratching at the black hair that littered it. From this far away the man's eyes appeared to be little more than dark pits filled with shadows as they stared down at them. "What, did you think you were the only one who could come back from the dead?"

"Come back from the…? Toombs, what are you even doing here? Are these  _your_  men?" Shepard demanded, waving one of her hands towards the bodies in front of her.

Toombs tilted his head slightly, strands of his dark hair shifting in the light like oil as it hovered around his jawline. "Them? They were nothing, just some hired thugs out for credits. No, you of all people should know what happened to  _my_ men, Shepard. They all died back on Akuze, remember?"

Garrus shifted his weight from one foot to the other, keeping his eyes on the merc leader. _Akuze_.  _The colony Shepard lost her whole unit on during a Thresher Maw attack._

It had been years ago, long before Garrus had ever even heard of Shepard, let alone met her. No one had known who she was back then, not really. She'd been just another Alliance marine - fresh out of the academy - when her unit had been sent to investigate the silent colony where her reputation first began. Sole Survivor, the vids called her. The only marine out of fifty to leave the planet alive. She'd still had the scars from it when Garrus had first met her, long and cruel lines that had cut across her cheeks and chin and bit into her smile. They were gone now, of course -no longer visible since her reconstruction - but Garrus saw the way she sometimes went to rub her hand across her them, catching herself when her fingers touched only smooth skin and memories.

"Then what is this?" Shepard pressed, taking a step forward. "Toombs, what the hell is going on here?"

"Justice, Shepard." Toombs answered, clasping his hands around the metal railing as he leaned over it. "Justice for crimes that have gone unanswered for far too long."

"Justice?" she repeated, eyes narrowing as she stared up at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid with me!" he screamed, hands flaring white as they clenched the metal beneath them. He looked away, visibly shaking as he ran a hand through his tangled hair. _This guy's insane,_ Garrus thought, tightening his grip on his Mantis as Toombs turned back towards them. "I know all your tricks this time, Shepard. You might have gotten me back on Ontarom when you let your little friend go, but I won't fall for your lies again."

Shepard stilled, her gun falling slowly to her side.

 _Ontarom_. Garrus repeated, the memory coming back to him in series of flashes;  _intel from Hackett asking them to investigate the murders of Alliance scientists back during their hunt for Saren; Shepard's shoulders tensing when he revealed the possibility of a cover up, the sharp turn of her head at the mention of Akuze; her eyes burning as she finally learned the truth from a broken man holding a gun to another's head; black hatred scarring her face as she handcuffed the scientist instead of killing him; her soft words to other, the careful touch on his shoulder as she promised she'd make the rogue black ops group Cerberus pay for everything they'd done to them._

"Toombs…it's not what you think."

"Don't lie to me, Shepard! I've seen the vids, I  _know_ you're one of them!"

"I'm not-" she stopped, breathing in deep. "Listen, there's more going on here than you know. Just let me-"

"Save it." Toombs cut her off with a sharp wave of his hand. He began to pace, taking a couple of steps in one direction before turning back the other way, never completely facing away from her. "I told you I'm on to you; I won't let you talk your way out of this one, not like last time."

"I'm telling you the truth!" Shepard yelled, her voice shaking slightly. Garrus shifted, mandibles flicking as he edged closer to her.

Toombs brushed her protestations away with another wave of his hand. "I've seen your kinds' 'truth', Shepard. I saw it when they unleashed those, those  _things_ on us, like we were just some lab rats to them. For two years I had it  _burned_  into my blood, stabbed into my arms with needles while your friends experimented on me in ways you could never even _imagine_." He stopped pacing and gestured to the mercs around them. "We all have, every single one of us. Cerberus has made a lot of enemies, Shepard. It's easy to find them when you know what to look for."

"You don't understand." Shepard said, shaking her head slightly as she took a step forward. "Cerberus isn't-"

"Don't you  _dare_ defend them to me, Shepard!" he screamed, spittle flying from his lips as he ran back to the railing and pulled something from a holster on his back. Garrus' body tensed as Toombs leveled the grenade launcher at Shepard. "After what they've done to me,  _to my men_! Don't you dare!"

Shepard froze. Garrus shifted slightly in response, moving closer to her. His muscles hummed with adrenaline and apprehension.

"I'd never defend what they did to us, Toombs." she said, her words so quiet Garrus almost missed them.

"To  _us?_ " Toombs laughed, the sound harsh and cruel against her soft words. "There is no  _us_ , Shepard. There's only me, finally getting justice against the  _Cerberus_  scum that killed my men."

"Toombs, don't-"

He pulled the trigger.

Garrus leaped.

* * *

Shepard braced herself for the hit.

Shock jolted through her when the expected force came not in an explosion of fire but instead from the side as a heavy mass crashed into her. She rolled into the fall as she hit the ground, her motion taking her further away. Less than a second later the explosion finally came, the heat crashing over her like a wave. Still, she was far enough away from the main blast that it didn't manage to cause any real damage. She coughed, choking on the smoke, and looked over at the prone body that lay where she'd been just moments before.

"Garrus!" she yelled, scrambling up despite the screams of protest that came from her battered body. She pulled her Widow close as she ran to him, blinking away the burning sensation in her seared eyes.

"Shepard's alive!" someone shouted above them.

"Get her!" another cried.

"No, stop! Shepard's mine!"

"Shoot her!"

"I said  _stop_!"

 _Damnit!_ Shepard turned slightly, raising her gun and taking aim as best she could through her watery vision. Relying as much on memory as on sight, she shot towards the cluster of oxygen tanks she'd seen during their fight earlier, following the round with a swiftly detonated Sabotage.

The upper level exploded.

Shepard reached Garrus, hovering over his still form as a wave of sick deja-vu coursed through her. Panic choked her as she stared down at him, unsure of where to check in order to find a pulse. The hide on his neck was too thick for her to look there she realized as her hand fluttered uselessly over it. Did turians even have a major vein there like humans did? How much blood could they lose before going into shock? Dammit, what was the point of him wearing such heavy armor if it didn't even-

She stopped herself, breathing in deep. Sounds of movement were trickling down from the upper level; she didn't have the time to lose control like this.

"C'mon, Garrus, don't die on me here." She said, hauling him up. Her voice cracked over the words. "Think of all the calibrating you've still got to do."

Relief squeezed her chest at the strangled gasp that came from him as she wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He coughed, wheezing as she pulled him forward towards a door she'd seen earlier, directly across from the elevator and beneath the loft.

"Damn, you're a heavy bastard, Garrus. What do they put in those dextro bars?" she rambled as her eyes scanned above them for signs of pursuit. The upper level was masked in a haze of smoke, but she could see vague outlines of shifting bodies picking themselves up. Shepard walked faster, trying to be as gentle as possible. She didn't let herself think about how slick his armor was underneath her grip, or how ragged his breathing was in her ear. "What, no come back? I'm disappointed, Vakarian."

"Where is she?" Toombs cried from above her as she pulled Garrus into cover underneath the loft. "Someone find Shepard,  _now_!"

"I see them! They're down there!" a voice called as Shepard reached the door. Mercifully, it opened at her touch, and she carried Garrus inside. Her pulse pounded with the sound of approaching footsteps as she lowered him against the nearby wall, her movements achingly slow as she tried to avoid causing any further damage. Once he was down, she turned back and swiftly shut the door, closing it with a sharp  _hiss_  on the clutch of mercs that were now only feet away. Gunfire clanged against the metal as she used her omni-tool to bypass the door's security, locking it tight behind her.

"What are you all standing around for!" Toombs voice shouted from the other side, muffled through the wall. "Go in after her!"

"We can't, sir! She's locked the door!"

"So unlock it then, you idiots!"

"But, sir…"

" _But what_?"

"Well…usually Tech handles this kind of -" The voice was cut off by a low  _thud_ , followed by a groan.

" _I want this door open_   _now!"_

Shepard bent down over Garrus, bringing her omni-tool up close over him. It's amber glow was the only light in the other-wise dark room - the windows behind them shuttered and useless – and she used it to finally get a look at his injuries; the explosion had blown a hole the size of her head into the right side of his armor, which had automatically attempted to repair itself by covering the area with a thin level of medi-gel to prevent further blood loss and infection. Shepard leaned in closer to look at the wound and felt her throat clench as she breathed in the smell of burnt carapace.

"What, is this it?" Shepard said softly, releasing a fresh dose of medi-gel onto the wound. Garrus hissed in a sharp breath as the more potent anesthetic worked its way through his system. "This is barely a scratch compared to that thing you call a face."

"Pardon…me." he gasped, the words weak with pain. Still, his breathing steadied even as she watched, and Shepard's heart thumped with a sudden and intense rush of love for the scientists at Sirta who had first invented medi-gel.

"What the hell were you thinking, Garrus?" she demanded as she put her hand against his cheek, turning his face towards hers so she could check his eyes; the bright blue – always so intense as it took in everything around them - was all but invisible against his dilated pupils.

"Wasn't." Garrus coughed and the feeling of mandibles flicking underneath her hand sent a strange warmth up her arm. She pulled her hand away and turned to look at their surroundings. The small room was an office apparently, with a large desk occupying the center. Two chairs placed in front of it and another behind were the only other furnishings, aside from a few potted plants scattered around. The entire back wall was made up of windows, all of which had their blinds drawn and secured.

Shepard's omni-tool beeped, alerting her that her bypass on the door was failing. Her eyes narrowed; they had to get out of here, and soon. She looked up from her omni-tool and stared at the windows.

She bit her lip.

"Shepard?" Garrus asked from behind her. His voice sounded stronger, and again Shepard silently thanked whoever it was that had created that miracle gel.  _If I ever find out who they are, I'll buy them a drink for every life under my command they've saved,_  she thought as she went back to Garrus.

"How bad is it?" she asked, crouching down next to him. His eyes were clearer now, and his breathing wasn't as shallow as before.

"I'll live." he said, wincing as she helped him up, once again wrapping his arm around her shoulders. He leaned heavily against her as she led him to the back of the room, putting the desk between them and the door. His mandibles flicked as her omni-tool beeped in alarm. "So…what's the plan, Commander?"

Shepard paused and turned her face to his, only inches away.  _Is he up to it?_

Her omni-tool beeped again.

_No choice._

Slowly, she stepped away from him, giving him time to adjust to supporting his own weight. When she was sure he wasn't going to collapse, Shepard raised her gun and shot out the center window. Sounds and light burst into the room as the glass shattered, and she walked closer to the edge. Omega lay before her, a mass of dark buildings lit by the glow of neon signs and the lights of passing shuttles. It was these shuttle lights that Shepard watched now, tracking the traffic with her eyes as it passed some twenty feet beneath them.

Garrus mandibles twitched. "You've got to be joking."

"Just gotta trust me, Garrus." Shepard said, reaching her hand out towards him.  _I won't let him die here,_ she promised silently.  _Not because of me._

Something inside her clenched when Garrus took her hand in his own without a moment's hesitation. His eyes met hers, and the sensation repeated itself as they held each other's gaze. His hand was warm as he stepped up beside her and Shepard turned back to the river of shuttles beneath them.

She waited.

Her omni-tool beaped and she felt his grip tighten on her hand.

Behind them, the door opened with a quiet  _hiss._

Together, Shepard and Garrus jumped.


	8. Falling

Two thoughts went through Garrus Vakarian's head as he jumped:

The first was that, in all likelihood, this was it. He was going to die.

The second, and strangely more pressing, was how incredibly  _small_  Shepard's hand felt inside his own.

It was a ridiculous thing to think about considering these were probably his last moments. If anything, he should be thinking about his family; about his mother, who would be sitting in bed, waiting for a call from him that would never come; or about Solana, and how strong she would try to act to keep their already broken family from falling apart completely; or even his father, and all the things they'd never been able to say each other. There were so many things Garrus should have been thinking of in that moment as he fell through the Omega sky.

And yet all he could focus on was Shepard's hand.

A small, sane piece of him rationalized this new obsession as a symptom of near-death mania mixed with the excess of medi-gel in his system. After all, it made sense logically that Shepard's hands were smaller than his; nearly everything about humans was stunted compared to his own species, and it only took a glance to see the easily notable size differences between him and her. So, really, part of him had always known her hands were smaller than his, technically speaking.

But there was a difference in knowing something to be true, and then  _knowing_ something as true. It was one thing to know his hands were naturally larger than hers, and another to feel that knowledge pressed warm against his palm; to feel the way her fingers curled around his, somehow fitting perfectly despite their differences; to feel how gentle they were as they gripped his own; to realize that, despite all the lives they'd saved and the countless more that they still held, Shepard's hands really were just as small and fragile as any other human's.

And for some reason that thought terrified Garrus even more dying did.

* * *

Shepard breathed in deep, bracing for the hit.

It came fast. One instant she'd been falling, the cold air cutting her face and Garrus' warm hand squeezing her own. The next she was smashed against the hard metal, her breath choking in her throat and her body clenching with shock.

She bent her knees and kept them loose to absorb the brunt force of the impact, landing feet down with her free hand spread out against to the shuttle to steady her stance. Her body jerked with inertia, dragging at her as it tried to roll her off and back into the air. She steadied herself, however, gripping tight to a protruding piece of metal as her suit's mag boots did the same beneath her.

Garrus slammed down beside her, mirroring her pose. His mandibles flared as he hit and his free hand shot up to clutch at his wound. The motion unbalanced him and, quick as a breath, he fell forward, sliding off the shuttle and into the churning air below. A flash of pain burned into Shepard's arm as it was yanked down by his weight, yet somehow she managed to keep her hold on his hand. She bit her lip and felt her forehead crease with strain as the muscles in her shoulder shuddered. He wrapped his other hand around her forearm as the shuttle turned beneath them, the sharp movement pitching him around as he swung to the side.

Shepard clenched her teeth and pulled. Once in reach, Garrus grasped the side of the shuttle and heaved himself up. He fell into a crouch beside her, mandibles twitching as he gasped for air.

"You okay?" Shepard yelled, the rushing air pulling at her words.

"Mostly." he shouted back with a tilted nod. He grabbed hold of the same metal she was using and steadied himself. "Now what?"

"I don't know, didn't think that far." Shepard admitted as she rolled her shoulder, wincing at the tingling sensation that still prickled in it. Garrus choked on a laugh at her words and she added, "Hey, we're alive aren't we?"

His mandibles twitched as he looked over the edge of the shuttle. "For now."

"Gotta take the victories where you can, Vaka-" Shepard began, cutting off as a muffled scream reached them. They turned their heads towards the front of the shuttle, where an asari woman had poked her head out of the passenger side door and was looking back at them. She shouted something, quickly ducked back in, and then slammed the door behind her.

Shepard and Garrus looked at each other.

"Well, you wanted a way down." she yelled, the corner of her lip curling slightly. Garrus stared at her.

A second later the shuttle dropped into a panicked dive.

They clung to the metal as wind and vertigo clutched at them. Shepard's hair whipped into her face, the stray strands pinching at her skin and forcing her eyes shut. Nausea rose up in her throat as they fell faster than she'd have thought a commercial shuttle could, and maybe it was just her but Shepard would have sworn they were even spinning a little. Not that she dared open her eyes to check, though.  _I'm going to be sick,_ she thought as her throat clenched,  _and then the wind's going to throw it back in my face. Or Garrus'._

The image of the battle-scarred turian splattered in leftover calamari gumbo – looking every bit like a wet cat, minus the flared mandibles – choked her, and she let out a strangled laugh. Another one followed, and then another, and then before she knew it Shepard was laughing harder than she had in years. Tears formed in her eyes and she finally opened them, her nausea all but gone as she threw her head back and laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of it all; here she was - the 'great' Commander Shepard, hero of the galaxy and zombie extraordinaire – clinging to some poor bastard's shuttle in the middle of Omega after jumping out of a building in order to escape the revenge driven 'ghost' who'd hunted her down on a damn  _shopping_  trip _._  And to top it all off, now she'd almost puked all over herself  _and_ her best friend.

Because, she realized as she turned to him and saw the look of absolute bewilderment on his face at her sudden fit of laughter, that's who Garrus was to her. Somehow, without her knowing, this patient, bitter, all around snarky alien had become the person she trusted most in the entire galaxy. And, as she saw in his mandibles flick and heard the low rumble that was his laugh join her own, Shepard appreciated him more in that moment than she ever had before.

* * *

"Sorry again for the trouble." Shepard apologized, rubbing the back her neck with a hand.

"Oh, not at all Spectre! We're just glad we could be of use to you." the dark blue asari said, her voice much calmer now, for which Garrus was unbelievably grateful for. The headache the asari's screams had given him when they'd first landed had yet to leave, and he leaned wearily against the shuttle while Shepard talked to its owners. It had taken them a few moments to calm down enough to listen to her, of course, but Garrus had learned early on that Shepard had a certain way of dominating a conversation. Throwing out the phrase 'Council Spectre' had also helped a great deal with soothing the two asari's shattered nerves.

"Definitely," the other one agreed as she took a step closer to Shepard, taking her free hand in hers and giving her a slow smile. "And if there's anything else you need –  _anything_ at all– I'd be more than happy to help you, Commander."

Garrus coughed as his mandibles twitched.

Shepard gave her a smile and casually pulled her hand back. "I appreciate the offer, but you've already done more than enough for us."

"Are you sure? We could give you a ride to somewhere safer," the asari continued, eyes half-lidded. "Do you have somewhere to stay?"

"We'll be fine, but thanks again for the help. I should go." Shepard said, giving them a final nod before meeting Garrus' eyes. He stifled a groan as he straightened up and followed after her. The asari had landed atop a public shuttle garage in a part of Omega Garrus wasn't very familiar with, and he looked around as Shepard led him towards a nearby console; judging from the buildings – which were shorter and wider than the towering one they'd escaped from – they'd managed to clear the warehouse district completely in their flight. Aside from that, however, he really had no idea where they were, and his eyes narrowed in frustration.

"What now, Shepard?" Garrus asked as she walked up the terminal.

"We still need those parts for the Normandy," she said, glancing over at him as she typed in a request for a cab. The wild look in her eyes as they'd clutched to the shuttle was gone now, replaced instead with the more familiar calm intensity they usually held.

"So what, we go back to the warehouse?" He felt the hastily patched wound in his side throb at the idea.

"And let you pull another stupid stunt like that last one?" she asked, brows lowering dangerously. "Just exactly how many rockets to the face do you think you can get away with, Garrus?"

"Well, technically that last one was a grenade, not a rocket." he answered slowly. "And it didn't hit my face either, so-"

"This isn't a joke, Vakarian." Shepard pressed, taking a step towards him. Her face was dark with anger, but he didn't back away. Nor did he fail to notice the tension in her body as she glared up at him, her shoulders stiff and her mouth straight. Garrus was walking a thin line with her now. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Of course not, Commander." he said, keeping voice calm against her sudden intensity. What had brought this on? "If I wanted to do that I'd just join up on a suicide mission."

Her eyes narrowed. This was when a good turian would buckle and listen to his commander, but Garrus had always said he wasn't a good turian. And as much as he respected Shepard, he couldn't bring himself to apologize for what he knew she thought was a reckless mistake. After all, she was still alive, wasn't she? They'd both seen how dangerous the galaxy was – hell, it'd already succeeded in killing her once – and  _someone_ had to be the one to watch her back, whatever it took.

For a long moment, the two stared at each other as each refused to give away and a heavy silence grew between them. It continued, stretching uninterrupted aside from the sound of their mingled breathing, until it was finally broken by the arrival of their cab. Shepard turned away as it landed in a free slot nearby them and walked over to it. Garrus exhaled, scratching at his scars, and followed after her like he always did.


	9. Insubordination

It was quiet in the cab.

Garrus leaned back into his seat, and the soft synthetic material molded around him. The comfort was a surprisingly nice change from the Kodiack's metal benches. Especially so now, when every sudden movement made his wound itch with pain. He'd never admit it, of course – and definitely not to Shepard – but the truth was his injury was beginning to take its toll on him. At first, the high dosage of medi-gel had worked wonders and he'd been able to ignore the ache in his side. But the anesthetic had slowly worn off over the past half-hour since jumping out of that damn window, and what was left of it did little to keep the throbbing away. He rested a hand gingerly over his side as the burning sensation grew.

Shepard caught the movement, her head turning towards him. "How is it?"

Garrus glanced over at her. It was the first thing she'd said since they'd gotten in the shuttle. "I've had worse." he answered with a small shrug. He winced as his side protested against the movement.

"Uh huh." Shepard said as her omni-tool flicked to life. She leaned over towards him, and a blissful numbness spread over his injury as she applied more medi-gel to it.

"Thanks." he said, sub harmonics radiating his gratitude as he stretched slightly.

"Don't overdo it," Shepard cautioned. "The medi-gel doesn't fix everything. We'll still need to have Chakwas look you over when we get back."

"Right, I'll try to avoid anything too stressful. Like excess stretching or jumping out of buildings."

Her brow lowered at his joke. The silence returned, but at least this time around it felt a little more comfortable as it settled between them. Garrus stared out the window, watching the buildings flick by as copper blurs. The direction they were going in could take them back to the market district they usually went to, theoretically. Or was Shepard taking to them back to the Kodiack? Was she planning to leave Omega and try their luck elsewhere? That last one seemed unlikely, but he considered it anyway since he had little else to go on at this point. She'd told him nothing so far, and Garrus hadn't asked.

His mind drifted back to their tense words just before the cab had arrived. It'd been a long time since he'd argued like that with Shepard, if you could even call that short conversation an argument. Not since they'd been aboard the original  _Normandy_ , really. His mandibles twitched as the long nights debating morality over results in the ship's hanger came back to him, the smell of gun oil and metal ghosting through his thoughts.

Garrus glanced over at her, taking in her tense posture; back straight as she leaned forward, hands clasped together with her elbows resting on her knees. Her eyes were intense as they stared at the empty space before her, forehead creased with her thoughts. Was she planning their next move? Inventing some new plan that would somehow inevitably fix all of their problems? Or was she still thinking about what had gone down at that warehouse?

Suddenly, as if mirroring his thoughts, Shepard exhaled slowly and said, "Listen, Garrus. About what happened with Toombs…" She turned to face him and Garrus braced himself for the lecture. "I'm sorry."

He blinked. That was unexpected. "Commander?"

"Going into that warehouse without proper back-up was reckless." she said. "I put you in unnecessary danger."

Garrus scratched at his scars. "'Unnecessary danger' is kind of a daily thing for us, Shepard."

"Not like that, it isn't." She shook her head slightly and looked down at her hands. "I should have contained the situation when I had the chance, but I didn't. And as a result, you got injured fixing my mistake."

Garrus stared at her, at a loss. He cleared his throat to buy himself some time, and then finally said, "You said it yourself, Shepard; everyone makes mistakes. And besides, I'm fine" – she shot him a disbelieving look from the corner of her eyes and he added – "I am, really. A little more scars than I had before, maybe, but it just adds to my charm."

Shepard chuckled softly, so he marked that one down as partial win if nothing else. "I'm sure Zaeed would agree with you on that." She paused for a few moments, and then added quietly, "I should have seen this coming."

"No one could have known Toombs would come after you like that, Commander."

Her hands clenched at the sound of his name. "But that's just it, I  _did_ know. I got a message from him telling me he'd heard I was working for Cerberus. He actually  _told_  me he'd do this if we ever saw each other again and I just…" She sighed and her head sagged slightly. "I should have prepared for this."

His mandibles twitched while he tried to process the new information. "Ah…"  _Ah? Really, Vakarian?_  He tried again. "Not even you can control everything. Your people have a saying about it, I think. Something like, 'you're only human'?"

She laughed, but the sound was empty. "Am I, though?" she asked, gazing at her hands as she flexed them. "Who knows what Cerberus did to bring me back, what they put in me? I sure as hell don't." Her hands clenched into fists and she paused. "Maybe Toombs was right after all. Maybe we really are just a couple of ghosts who should have died when we had the chance."

Garrus hesitated, uncertain how to respond. Shepard was the one who did the comforting, the one who always knew just what to say in situations like this. She was the leader who pulled all the rest of them up when they fell, not him. What could he do for her that she couldn't do herself?

The one thing he'd always done, he realized; have her back, no matter what. And if right now that meant fighting off her self-doubt instead of her enemies, then that's what Garrus would do.

He reached his hand out before he changed his mind and cautiously rested it on her shoulder. Shepard startled slightly at the gentle pressure, turning her face back to his. The physical contact felt awkward out of combat, but it was too late to pull back now. "Shepard, listen…I don't know about Cerberus or the Illusive Man, but for what it's worth I'm glad they did what they did to bring you back. We've both seen the Collectors and what they can do. And we both know you're the only person in this whole damn galaxy that can stop them. And if that's not enough to prove you're you, well, just know that I've never doubted it. Not once."

Silence followed his words. Shepard stared at him, her eyes slightly wider than normal, and Garrus found himself acutely aware of how heavy his hand felt upon her shoulder. He felt the urge to pull it back, but hesitated. He wasn't sure on the proper protocol for how long such touches were supposed to last for humans. Would she take offense somehow if he did so now? Better to wait then, he decided as he ignored the way the suddenly tense muscles in his arm twinged.

Eventually, after a long moment, Shepard cleared her throat lightly. He took that as the sign he'd been waiting for and took his hand back as she lowered her head back down. The motion caused her hair to fall across her face, covering it like a shield flickering suddenly to life. "Thank you, Garrus. That means…it means a lot." She cleared her throat again and sat up straight. "And you're right. The Collectors  _are_  out there. It we're going to have any chance against them there's no room for second-guessing. I need to put this behind me, one way or another."

Garrus nodded. "Whatever happens, I'm with you, Commander." Abruptly, he felt his center of gravity shift as the shuttle tilted and began to descend. His mandibles flicked and he took the opportunity to change the topic to something lighter. "So…where  _are_  we going, anyway?"

Shepard's eyes narrowed as she looked out the window. "To the one person who can give me some answers around here."

* * *

Aria sipped her drink, looking over the datapad.

Few things affected Omega. People came, went, fought, died; none of it mattered. The majority of them weren't even worth the effort of noticing, really, but Aria kept tabs on them all anyway. It was one of the main reasons she'd held control for as long as she had, and why she would continue to do so. Still, she tried to waste as little of her time on such meaningless things as possible. After all, they did well enough keeping each other in check all by themselves. That whole mess with Archangel had proven that.

Which brought her back to the point that every now and then something – or some _one_ , rather, did come around that was just big enough to actually be worth the attention she gave it. Like that Shepard, for instance. A dead Spectre showing up had been merely intriguing at first, but the woman had proven to be far more useful than Aria originally expected. Not only had the Commander's little rescue mission dug up some interesting intel Aria's own lackeys had somehow managed to miss, but while she was at it Shepard had also gone on and decimated the three strongest merc groups on the station – saving Aria the trouble of eventually having to do it herself when the bastards got too cocky and tried to overreach themselves. Not to mention that the ensuing chaos that had spread among the three since then was doing all the work for her and more, if the information she was looking at now was anything to go by.

The Blood Pack had taken the loss of their leader the hardest, apparently. Almost as soon as that idiot Garm had hit the ground the infighting for a new leader had started. Expected, really, considering their recruitment standards. According to her report it seemed that some vorcha named Kreete was posed to come out on top, and Aria's eyes narrowed at the thought. She'd have to find a more suitable successor for Garm, one more…amiable to her demands. For now, though, better to let the vermin play their little games. She'd step in when the right opportunity presented itself.

What was more pressing, however, was this situation with the Talons. The red sand dealers had always been a thorn in her side, but now they were pushing her patience to its limits. The group had begun increasing their territory in the last few weeks, taking advantage of their sudden lack of competition. Aria had no real problem with that by itself, although their growing arrogance did piss her off. No, the real issue here was that the group had stopped sending Aria her cut of their profits. The damn turians seemed to think they were above Omega's one rule, but no one fucked with Aria and got away with it. She'd send Liselle to remind them of that personally.

"Ma'am?"

Aria didn't look up from the datapad.

Grizz coughed, shifting his weight from one foot to the other in her peripherals. She took another sip from her glass, savoring the liquor's strong flavor, and then dragged her eyes over to him. He stilled. "That human Shepard's arrived in Afterlife, ma'am."

 _Speak of the devil,_ she thought, swirling the liquid in her glass. Aria wasn't surprised, however. She'd been notified Shepard was on the station the moment the Spectre's shuttle had reached hailing distance of it, and they both knew that whatever it was Shepard was on Omega for, Aria was the who'd have it. It had just been a matter of time before the Commander showed up at her doorstep.

Aria tossed the datapad aside – where it was immediately picked up by Grizz – and crossed her legs. She trailed a finger along the top of her glass.

"You look like shit." she commented when Shepard arrived moments later.

"Nice to see you too." Shepard greeted, arching one of her singed eyebrows. Aria tiled her head slightly towards a nearby seat and the Commander took the invitation. This close up Aria could see the thin layer of dirt – or was that ash? – that coated Shepard's face and the light pink tint of the skin underneath, indicating minor burns.

"I'm sure it is." Aria replied and then took a long sip from her drink. "What do you want?"

"I need information on a human who goes by the handle 'Ghost'." she answered. She sat forward and tucked a strand of hair, dark with dried sweat, behind her ear.

"Looking to add another one to your suicide squad?" Aria asked, tossing a lazy glance over at the turian who stood off to the side. Amazingly, he looked even worse off than Shepard did, with various shades of dried blood coating his ragged armor and an ugly mess of a wound in his side. Still, the turian stood tall, and Aria saw the way his eyes flicked around the room consistently.  _This one doesn't miss a thing,_ she noted, watching the way his hands hovered near his holster.

"Not exactly." Shepard replied, drawing Aria's attention back to her. "What do you know about him?"

Aria leaned back into her seat. "The man's ex-Alliance, CAT-6. He showed up here a couple of weeks ago with about a dozen followers and has done some light recruiting since. Kept his group quiet for the most part, stayed away from any of the serious players. Apparently the only thing he's interested in is Cerberus blood." she added, giving Shepard a side-long look.

"Any idea where I can find him?" Shepard asked, lacing her fingers together.

Aria swirled the liquor in her glass idly. "He's got a place set up in the Kenzo district. Some run down hell hole, no doubt. I'll have one of my men send you the co-ordinates."

Shepard nodded. "Thanks, I'd appreciate that."

"You should." Aria replied, turning her head slightly. "Now is there anything else?"

"Actually, there is." she said, opening up her omni-tool. "My ship's run into some trouble, and I need to pick these parts up before I leave. Think you can help with that?"

Aria narrowed her eyes. "What the hell do you think I am? Some piece of shit merchant? Go to the market and do your own damn shopping."

"Tried that already. It didn't exactly end well." Shepard said, rubbing her face lightly. "I'll make it worth your while if you can get those parts for me."

Aria took a long, slow drink from her glass and then set the empty cup aside. "Fine. But you'll owe me for this, Shepard."

"Looking forward to it, Aria." Shepard replied lightly as she stood up. She turned her head. "Garrus, I want you to stay here until the parts show up. When they do, take them to the Kodiack and wait there until I get back."

The turian shifted and took a step closer. "Like hell. I'm going with you, Commander."

Shepard's eyes narrowed. "Don't argue, Garrus."

"You can't seriously expect me to let you go after Toombs alone." he demanded, mandibles snapping against his face.

"I expect you to do what I tell you to, Vakarian." Shepard answered, her voice low and tight as she stepped towards him.

"You'll have to forgive me for the insubordination then, because it's not happening." He replied.

"Damnit, Vakarian, I'm giving you an order as your-"

"And I'm telling you I can't just leave you like that, orders or no." He interrupted, holding her gaze as he lowered his voice. "Not in this place, Shepard. You need me."

 _Well,_ Aria thought as she watched them stare at one another.  _There's something unexpected._

After a moment, Shepard exhaled tightly. "Fine. Go get us a cab." She ordered, turning away from him and walking back towards Aria. The turian left without another word. "Aria-"

She waved her hand, cutting Shepard off. "I'll send the parts to your shuttle bay. Might as well play delivery boy while I'm already serving as your damn vendor."

"Thanks." Shepard nodded and began to leave. "I should go."

"Right. Oh, and Shepard?" she called after her. She waited until the Spectre's eyes met her own. "Glad to see you took my advice about finding a nice young man to keep you company. I guess that Citadel vid got some things right about you after all."

Aria smirked at expression that flashed across Shepard's face before she turned and left.


	10. Blind

Today was just not Shepard's day.

Granted, it wasn't the worst one she had ever had. There was always that time she had actually died, after all. And also that day when she had  _almost_  died back on Akuze. And then again later on after that on Eden Prime, then Ilos, Feros, Virmire, the Citadel…

She shifted in her seat. So no, this wasn't the worst day Shepard had ever had. But it was definitely trying to be. She ran a gloved hand across her face, wishing the action could wipe away more than just the dried sweat and dirt. Her eyes drifted over to the window next to her. The cab Garrus had hailed for them was a newer model, sleek and fast as it sped through Omega, and the buildings outside flicked by quicker than she could count. At this rate it wouldn't be long before they reached Toombs' base.

The shuttle's thin synthetic leather squeaked as Garrus shifted in his own seat beside her. The muscles on the back of her hand twitched in response, surprising her, and Shepard clenched the offending hand into a fist.  _It's just because you want to punch him for his insubordination back at Afterlife,_ she told herself.  _Like you did to Zaeed that time on Zorya._

Yes, that was it. It was anger that made her body hum with tension as she did her best to ignore the turian next to her; anger that made her so suddenly aware of his presence – just mere inches away – and the heat she swore she could feel radiating off of him. It definitely had absolutely nothing to do with the comment Aria had made just before Shepard had left the club, or the thoughts that had spawned like varren inside her head since then.

She swallowed. No, that had just been Aria getting revenge on Shepard for making her play 'delivery boy'. A stupid joke, really.  _She hadn't seriously meant anything by it_ , Shepard reasoned as she leaned forward and braced her elbows on her knees. Everyone knew there was nothing like that between Garrus and her. She was his commander after all, maybe even a mentor to him. Not to mention a human. Of course he'd never see her in  _that_ way.

Not, that is, that she wanted him too. She certainly didn't feel like that about him. Sure it was true that Garrus was important to her – he was her best friend after all; her constant comrade on missions, his rifle raised and ready as he covered her six as naturally as if it were his own; her escape on the nights when the silence and dreams grew too loud for sleep, his voice warm and grounding while they talked about nothing and everything as the hours passed like minutes– but wasn't that always how it was with the bond that formed between crewmates? Besides, Shepard had never once claimed to have a thing for aliens, despite what that damn Citadel vid said about her. And even if she did – which she didn't – was it even possible for a turian and a human to…?

Shepard laced her fingers together, retreating from the dangerous thought. No, Aria's comment had been completely off base. Garrus and Shepard were just friends, and that was just the way she wanted it.

…Wasn't it?

* * *

Garrus' omni-tool beeped, alerting him that they were nearing the drop point Aria's co-ordinates had led them to. He tapped a talon against his leg, thinking, and his eye caught the way Shepard's hands twitched slightly at the sound.  _Looks like she hasn't exactly forgiven me for Afterlife, after all,_ he thought, remembering the brittle glint he'd seen in her eyes when he'd refused her order to leave. His mandibles clenched quietly against his face; when this was all over and done, he'd have one hell of a debrief with her waiting for him back on the Normandy.

His omni-tool beeped again, reminding him his impending reprimands and possible beating could wait until later. He cleared his throat. "Commander?"

"What is it?" Her voice twinged with an emotion Garrus couldn't quite identify. Anger? Annoyance? Spirits, why did humans have to have such flat voices? It made deciphering their emotions so much harder.

"We're getting pretty close to the coordinates Aria gave us. ETA about ten minutes now." he said, glancing over at her.

It was almost amazing, watching the transformation she went through in the next few seconds. He had seen it almost more times that he could count over the long months they had spent together, but it was still fascinating to him how quickly her entire bearing could suddenly shift; one moment she had been hunched over, her body rigid and her face creased with her thoughts, and then the next it all just drifted away. There was no single overt action that gave away the change either as he watched her, but rather a thousand little ones; her hands stayed clasped together like before, but they no longer grasped at one another as if desperate for something to distract them from their idleness; her heart rate in his visor quickened, and her next breath came out long and clean; her eyebrows lifted as she blinked, her eyes suddenly bright inside the dim cab. He could almost feel the determination that radiated out from her in that moment. This was the Commander they told stories about, the woman who had saved an entire galaxy almost single-handily and planned on doing it again.

This was the woman Garrus respected more than anyone else.

_And I went and pissed her off,_  he thought as his mandibles twitched slightly.

"What do we know so far?" she asked, looking over at him.

He pushed the thought from his head and opened up his omni-tool. "Not much," he admitted as he sifted through the information Aria had given them. "We've got the location and few estimates of their numbers, but that's about it."

Shepard nodded and opened up her own omni-tool to a map of the area. "Are you familiar with this Kenzo District?"

Garrus felt his mandibles pull tight against his face. "A little, yeah." Shepard tossed him a glance, raising one of her brows. It was almost as if she really  _could_ understand his sub-harmonics, human or not. She never missed a thing, regardless of what she thought about herself.

"Something I should know?"

"It's nothing, Commander."

"Garrus."

_Spirits_ , he thought as he tapped a talon against his leg. She was a like varren sometimes, always asking questions, always picking at things. "I went there a few times with my squad. Nothing heavy. Mostly raids, get in-get out. It was Blood Pack territory back then and we didn't have the forces to take them on."

"And?"

He looked away and tapped his talon again, a little harder this time. "And nothing. The last time I went there was a couple of days before you showed up. Sidonis comm'd me and said the Blood Pack had pulled a fast one on him and he needed back up." He left it there, but the memory of that day played on in his head; he remembered rushing through the streets, the hitch he had heard in Sidonis' voice edging him to go faster; he remembered finding nothing - no trace of Sidonis or the guns - and the way the truth had crashed into him like a krogan; he remembered praying for the first time in years as he clutched his gun close to him and ran back to his squad's base; and more than anything else, Garrus remembered getting there too late.

His hand curled into fist.

A minute passed, maybe two, before Shepard broke the silence and said "I see."

And the damn thing was, Garrus thought as he turned back to her and found her eyes watching him, he knew she really did. She saw it all so easily, while Garrus himself could do nothing but fumble in the dark, blind and helpless.

"I guess it's a good thing you're here after all then." she continued, giving him that familiar crooked smile. "I won't have to go in blind."

Garrus blinked at her words, so similar to his own thoughts and yet so different. He cleared his throat. "Yeah. Glad I can help, Commander."

She held his gaze for a moment longer before turning back to her omni-tool. "So, got any intel on this building they're in?" she asked, looking it over on her screen.

He scratched his scars with his hand as he looked over hers as well. "Nothing aside from what you already have. Just these scans of the general layout." He paused for a moment as they studied the screen before them."You know, I think EDI's spoiled us. If we were in range of the Normandy she'd have gotten us the blueprints and best infiltration routes before we'd even asked."

Shepard's eyebrows rose up in agreement. "Never thought I'd miss an AI, that's for sure. I guess we'll be plotting our own entrance strategy this time around."

"Looks like it." Garrus said and then pointed with a talon to the top floor of the three-story building. " Toombs will probably be somewhere up here. He'll be expecting us, and that would be the best place to set up a defense. It gives him sight lines here and here for snipers to pick us off before we can get too close."

Shepard nodded. "Chances are his mercs will be spread across the lower levels to try and slow us down too. Estimates on their numbers?"

"Aria's numbers place them at over two dozen, but likely no more than forty all together. Nothing we can't handle, I'm sure."

"No doubt. It looks like there's a main entrance here, and that'll probably be where the bulk of the first wave will be. Slipping in through here, though," Shepard said as she pointed to the back side of the building, where it dropped off into a balcony and reached out into the Omega sky. "Would put us right at their backs."

"We'd flank them and take the bastards by surprise." Garrus nodded. "The shuttle could probably get in close enough for us to climb up over the railing without them seeing if it stays low enough."

"My thoughts exactly. From there we should be able to clear the place out level by level, that way there won't be any stragglers who can sneak up behind us."

Garrus looked up at her. "And then?" His mandibles flicked. "How do you want to handle Toombs when we find him?"

Her jaw tensed slightly and she closed the omni-tool, throwing a sudden shadow over her face as the amber light disappeared. "Just watch my back, Garrus. I'll take care of Toombs myself."

He nodded. "Understood, Commander."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is, finally! I'm so sorry this chapter took me over a month to get up on here. Mid-terms and work made things crazy busy, and then I just had the hardest damn time writing this part for some reason. (I swear I must have rewritten the beginning like five times before I finally figured how I wanted it to go.) Still, I shouldn't have let it take this long, so I really am sorry about that. Anyway, that's it, so I hope you guys enjoy and I promise I'll do my best to make sure it this doesn't happen again, honest.


	11. Distractions

"And that's all we've got," Jeroth reported, then after a brief moment added belatedly, "Sir."

Toombs breathed in deep and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You're telling me no one's seen Shepard since she jumped out that goddamn window?"

"Yeah." Toombs opened an eye and glared at the man before him. "I mean, yeah sir."

Toombs exhaled. He didn't miss the Alliance – how could he, after what they had done to him, to his men? – but sometimes he did miss the perks, like the order or respect for the chain of command that was instilled into its soldiers. He hadn't really ever appreciated the discipline Alliance marines had until he was forced to make due with the dregs of the galaxy that made up his crew now.

"I want Shepard found,  _now._ " he said, looking to the side as his door hissed open. He bit down a groan as he recognized the krogan who entered and marched towards them.

"Hmph. Worried your little girlfriend will run away?" Keave said as she came up beside Jeroth. The young man stiffened and inched away.

Toombs braced his hands on the desk between them, glaring at her. "You've no idea what you're even talking about."

"I know you let one of Cerberus' best operatives escape right out from under that thing you call a nose." she grumbled, holding his gaze. Jeroth quietly took another step back. "An operative who just happened to be an old friend of yours."

A sudden wave of pain jolted through Toombs, making his breath hitch slightly. He ignored the sickening sensation; he'd been living with the after effects of the thresher maw venom for years now, and had long ago learned how to deal with all but the worst of the symptoms. "My past with Shepard is none of your goddamn business."

"Yeah? Well I say it  _is_  my damn business." She took a step closer to the desk. "How else did Shepard get away from our ambush, huh? Fully surrounded, with all the exits blocked off. No way she could have gotten out of there without help."

Toombs felt his hands curl into fists. "If you've got something to say, Keave, then just say it. Don't scurry around it like some inbred varren."

The krogan narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm saying you either helped that bitch escape, or she got out all on her own. Either way means you're a useless pyjak."

Toombs leaned forward, holding her gaze as he resisted the urge to just shoot the krogan here and now. He'd need her strength for when Shepard came – which wouldn't be long now at all, if she was still half the woman he remembered, Cerberus or no. " _Enough_. You have no idea how dangerous Shepard is, what she's capable of. You really think you'd even have a chance against her without me?"

Keave shrugged. "She's one human, alone with a half dead turian that's probably already rotting in an alley somewhere. What could she possibly-" The sound of an explosion from the floors below cut her off, and Keave looked down as the ground shook slightly beneath them.

Toombs narrowed his eyes as fresh wave of pain shot through him, then reached for his gun.

* * *

Shepard was focused.

She was in the middle of battle, surrounded by hostiles. Just one mistake, one small slip, and it would be all over. So of course she was focused. She had to be.

And yet that didn't stop her from watching Garrus with an almost hungry fascination.

How had she never noticed before how impossibly  _graceful_  was? He moved through the crowded room, dropping merc after merc with each shot, and Shepard found herself marveling at the precision that rippled through him with every action; at the casual way his arm rose to reload his rifle with a natural ease, wasting not a second as he popped out the filled heat-sink and replaced it with a fresh one; at the way he vaulted over a low crate and ducked behind another as smoothly as a born predator. Had he always angled his hip like that when he lined up a shot? And had the blue in his eyes always burned that bright when they found hers after nailing yet another headshot? Certainly that fluttering sensation in her stomach in response had never been there, of that Shepard was sure.

_You're going to get yourself killed, getting distracted like this,_ she told herself as she finally dragged her eyes away from him, activating her Cloak as she slid out from behind her cover to find a better vantage point. She came up beside a merc whose shields had already been taken care of by Garrus and proceeded to finish the job with a quick series of shots from her pistol. She ducked behind a nearby couch while she waited for her Cloak to recharge.  _Or worse, you'll get_ him _killed,_  the voice continued as she glanced over the room.

They had almost cleared out the first floor completely and, by her count, the two of them had finished off at least eleven mercs by now. Roughly a little less than half of Toombs crew, if they were lucky. The rest of his men seemed to be hunkering down on the upper floors, and Shepard used the sudden lull in enemies to move closer to Garrus.

"Think it's time to press forward?" he asked as she came up beside him, crouching behind the same crate he was.

"Yeah. The others don't seem to be coming down anytime soon."

"Well, I guess they had to wise up sooner or later. Damn shame, though. Those stairs had them funneling in right to me." he said, tossing his head towards the pile of corpses that clogged the stairwell in front of them. He turned back to her, narrowing his eyes slightly. "By the way, it was seven to five this time around."

Had his voice always  _purred_ like that?

Shepard swallowed and ran a hand across the back of her neck. "Yeah, well, I figured I'd cut you a break, what with being injured and all." Which was true, or at least partially. She  _had_  noticed the way he had faltered every now and then, his hand pausing momentarily over his side in-between reloading and shooting. That had even been her excuse for watching him so closely at first; she'd told herself she was only doing it out of concern, like any proper commander would for her crew. And that was true.

Or at least partially.

"How are you holding up?" she asked him, leaning in to take a closer look at his wound. The medi-gel patch seemed to be wearing out slightly against the strain of combat, it's clear casing cracked and dried in some places.

Garrus shifted his weight from one foot to the other, looking away. "It's fine, Commander. Nothing I can't handle."

"Uh huh." she said as she opened up her omni-tool anyway.

"Really, Shepard, you don't-"

"Oh just sit still, Garrus." Shepard said, rolling her eyes as she applied a fresh patch over his burned side. He stiffened slightly when she released the dosage, but then let out a barely muffled sigh of relief as the anesthetic kicked in. "There, all done."

He twisted to the side and back, stretching. "Thanks, Commander."

She nodded, and gave him a crooked grin as she lifted her pistol. "Now let's go kill some mercs."

* * *

There was something off about Shepard.

Her bio-feedbacks had been spiking abnormally ever since they had first left Afterlife. Garrus had dismissed it at first, assuming it was from anger, but now he wasn't so sure. He shot a glance at her as he reloaded, watching from behind his crate as she sniped a merc from behind her own cover. Her readings were normal now – her heart-rate was slightly higher than usual maybe, but he attributed that to battle adrenaline –yet he could have sworn her pulse had been elevated earlier when she had come over to him after they had finished off the first wave of mercs.

Garrus took a moment to aim at a clutch of mercs across from him, and then fired a Concussive shot. His mandibles flicked as the group scattered, one of the bio-readings in his monitor disappearing with a blink. Another blipped out as Shepard landed a headshot on one of the stunned mercs, and he glanced over her. He winked when her eyes met his, acknowledging the shot, and once again her heart-rate spiked strangely. His eyes narrowed with concern, but before he could do more the readings had leveled back out and she was grinning at him. "That's twelve to twelve" her voice crackled in his ear, and then she was gone as she activated her Cloak and disappeared.

He resisted the urge to shake his head as he took aim again. Had she gotten injured earlier, back during their fight at the warehouse? He hadn't exactly been fully aware of what was going on back then, so it was possible she'd taken a hit when he was semi-unconscious. Garrus fired, taking down the barrier of a biotic. Another two shots saw the merc fall and Garrus moved on to another target.  _It could be from stress,_ he thought as he took out a salarian engineer.  _Going after Toombs like this probably isn't easy for her._ He ducked back behind the counter he was using as cover and ejected the filled thermal clip. Then again, maybe he was just being paranoid. Maybe-

"Garrus!" Shepard's voice crackled in his ear, "Move!"

He didn't hesitate; Garrus dove away from the counter, rolling to the side just as the metal frame twisted and bent beneath the massive weight of a charging krogan. He scrambled to his feet as the krogan roared, running towards him as it leveled a shotgun in his direction. Garrus brought his own gun up and fired, swearing when the trigger clicked uselessly without an empty clip in it's heat sink. He backed away and fumbled at his belt for a clip while the krogan grinned, its finger squeezing down on its shotgun's trigger.

A ball of orange light shot past Garrus and crashed into the krogan's face. It roared as the fire spread across its body, throwing its head back and dropping its gun as the Incineration burned its armor away. There was a static fizzle as Shepard appeared just in front of the krogan, her cloak flickering off as she aimed her pistol at its head and fired. She got off three shots before the merc lashed out with a growl, its thick fist colliding into Shepard's right shoulder.

Something twisted inside Garrus when he heard the dull  _crack_ that followed the collision, and his mandibles flared when Shepard gasped as her arm dropped limply beside her. Her gun fell from her grasp and she dodged the krogan's next punch as she ducked to pick it up with her good hand. The krogan reached down towards her, and Garrus ran forward as he finished reloading. He slammed the butt of his rifle into the krogan's face, feeling the thick bone and skin break beneath the weight of his gun. He smashed the merc's face once more before the krogan could react, then jumped away when it swung out blindly with a fist. Garrus glanced over at Shepard beside him as he regained his balance, who already had her pistol up and aimed at the merc. She nodded at him as he did the same, and then they both fired.

Two empty thermal clips later, Garrus and Shepard stood panting over the merc, their guns still aimed on the krogan's prone form even though it had long since stopped moving. Finally, after double checking his visor's bio readings once again just to be sure, Garrus let his rifle lower. He looked over as Shepard did the same beside him and his eyes found hers. The bright green glittered with adrenaline and she grinned at him as she said, somewhat breathlessly, "Nice work, Vakarian."

His mandibles spread as he smiled back. "Well, I try." he said, raising his rifle slightly in a kind of salute. "Thanks for saving my ass back there."

Her eyebrows rose in acknowledgement as she holstered her pistol. "Anything for my favorite turian." His mandibles twitched at her words, but then stilled when he saw the way her forehead creased with pain as she tried to move her injured arm.

"How bad is it?" he asked, walking over to her and holstering his own weapon.

"It's fine, just a shoulder dislocation I think." she answered, wincing slightly as she ran her hand over the shoulder the krogan had hit. She stiffened when Garrus carefully did the same, gently examining the strange angle her arm hung at now.

"We're going to have to pop it back in place." he said as he looked it over.

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "You've done this before?"

He nodded. "It's been awhile, but yeah. I had a human partner once, back in C-Sec. It was only for a few weeks before he transferred out, but long enough for me to pick up a few things."

"A few weeks and you already learned how to relocate a human's arm? Damn, C-Sec's more dangerous than I thought."

"It was his own fault, really. Damn idiot tried to follow a perp through a vent and got himself stuck when it turned out he wasn't nearly as flexible as he thought he was. Took me almost an hour to get him out."

Shepard started to laugh, then stopped when the motion caused her injured arm to shake. "Well, can't say I blame him. Flexibility's really about all us humans have in our favor compared to you bigger species."

Garrus shook his head, keeping his hand held lightly over the place where her empty socket was as he finished his examination. "Not this guy. You should have seen him, almost looked like he could have been part krogan he was so big. Not nearly as flexible as you, Commander." Shepard made a strange choking sound and he immediately lifted his hand, mandibles twitching. "Sorry. Did I press too hard?"

"No, no, that's," she cleared her throat. "No, it's fine. Let's just, ah, get this over with."

"Right." Garrus wrapped one of his hands around her elbow, placing the other one by her shoulder, and bent her forearm slowly upwards until he felt resistance. Shepard breathed in deep, closing her eyes. "You ready?" he asked.

She opened her eyes and stared into his. "Do it."

Garrus moved his hand down from her shoulder to her upper arm and rotated it, moving it around slowly until he felt it pop back into its socket. Shepard hissed in a breath, clenching her teeth together as Garrus brought her forearm back towards her chest, testing the shoulder's placement. The bone stayed in place. He nodded. "All done, Shepard."

She exhaled, pinching her eyes shut for a moment. "Thanks."

"Anything for my favorite human." Garrus said lightly and her eyes popped open. She laughed breathlessly as he brought up his omni-tool and released a dosage of medi-gel through her system. "Better?" he asked, running a hand over her shoulder one last time. He checked her pupils for excess dilation.

"Perfect." she said as she held his eyes, and his mandibles twitched at the sudden intensity that glittered in them. Before he could react further, however, she coughed and looked away. "It's all perfect now, thanks."

Garrus took his hand off her shoulder, suddenly feeling awkward. He scratched at his scars. "No problem, Commander."

Shepard took in a deep breath, then glanced upwards at the final floor above them. "Right. Let's finish this."

Garrus nodded. "I'm right behind you, Shepard."


	12. Pain and Loss

Her boots clunked quietly against the floor as Shepard appeared in the doorway.

Toombs licked his chapped lips as he watched her walk in with steps as steady as her gaze,  felt his hand tighten on the grip of his gun as her own gleamed in the room’s dim light. Years ago, back in another life, he had laughed at the way she doted over her rifles, joked about the hours she spent greasing and oiling them until they shined as bright as the glint in her eyes. _I guess somethings never change,_ he thought now as she took another step closer and her Widow winked in the light.

_Too bad people do._

“Finally done running, Shepard?” he asked as she paused, stopping a little more than ten feet away from him. Only the desk and air separated their two groups now. “Decide to finish the job your Cerberus masters started?”

 “We need to talk, Toombs.” she replied as she took in the room. Her eyes flicked from the sparse furnishings over to Jeroth on Toombs’ right, then on to the hulking mass of krogan that was Keave on his left. _That’s right, another krogan,_ he answered silently as her gaze widened. It had cost him nearly all his credits just to pay for Keave and her brother to join his crew, but seeing the look on Shepard’s face now made it all worth it. _Surprised you’re not the only one with aliens to back you up, huh?_

Her turian was just behind her, a mess of medi-gel and blood that stood tall and tense. How the hell he’d managed to survive this long was anyone’s guess, but the alien was a tough bastard, Toombs would give him that. Loyal, too, if that suicidal stunt from before was anything to go by. _Good thing he’s already half-dead,_ Toombs mused as he watched him for a moment longer, taking note of the way the alien hovered behind Shepard’s six like an over-protective shadow. _Shepard’ll cause enough damage on her own as is, and this one’s not just some guard dog either. He’s got military training, and plenty of it probably._

“Funny,” Toombs said finally, turning back to Shepard after letting her words hang in the silence for a moment. “Is that what you call gunning down all my men? ‘Talking’?”

            The turian snorted. “They got what they deserved. Those mercs would have torn us apart if they’d had the chance.” he shot back, and Toombs caught the way Shepard blinked at the sound of his voice.

“Garrus.” she murmured; the word was quiet, private, but Toombs still heard it, even if the meaning in it was lost on him. The turian – Garrus, was it? – seemed to understand it, however, and his mandibles flicked out in response.

“So they got was coming to them, huh?” Toombs demanded, ignoring the way the two partner’s obvious intimacy sent a pang of longing through him. He felt his gun slide with sweat inside his grip. The weight of it was heavy in his hand and it took more effort than he would have thought to keep it up and aimed at the woman before him. “Just like my men on Akuze got what was coming to them too, huh?”

“Enough, Toombs.” Shepard said, her voice as hard as her eyes as she stared him down.

He blinked. “What?”

“I said _enough_. What happened to our unit - to Piers and Anders and the rest,” She paused as she closed her eyes for a moment, breathing in deep. The motion was achingly similar to the same Toombs himself used when his own pain suddenly struck, when his body was wracked with the agony of thresher venom and old memories. He blinked, shoving the nostalgia aside as she continued. “It was monstrous. But those soldiers deserve better. Using their sacrifices as an excuse for your own actions like this is a disgrace.”

Rage flared inside him, but he bit it down with a choked laugh. “A disgrace, huh?” he asked, gripping his pistol with both hands to steady his shaking aim. “Guess it’s too bad I’m all that’s left then isn’t it? After all, it’s not like anyone else is going to bring Cerberus down. Nobody else knows what they’ve done, and nobody else sure as hell gives a damn so-”

“ _I_ do.” she said, voice wavering, and Toombs felt his chest heave as a fresh wave of pain jolted through him. “You think you’re the only one who wakes up at night, sick with it? The only one who sees their faces staring at you in the mirror?”

Toombs’ vision began to blur and he bit down on the inside of his cheek, hard. The fresh sensation cleared his head as the taste of blood filled his mouth. “Enough with the lies, Shepard. You betrayed us, all of us! What Cerberus did to me-“

“-was unforgiveable!” she shouted back, cutting him off. “And they’ll pay. I promised you they wouldn’t get away with what they’ve done, and I meant it. But there are bigger issues at stake here,” – he scoffed at the obvious feint, but she pressed on, her voice rising slightly – “things more important than just you or me. Entire colonies are under attack, Toombs. Hundreds of thousands of people are already missing, taken by the Collectors. That’s why I’m doing this. Working with Cerberus is the only way to stop more from disappearing.”

One of his arms twitched with pain, causing his aim to lower slightly. He had heard the rumors, of course. The Council tried to keep things quiet, but Toombs still had his contacts. Friends in the Alliance who kept him up to date, leaked him information on known Cerberus activity and agents. It was how he had originally heard about Shepard’s betrayal in the first place. But if what she was saying now was true, if…

A growl came from Keave beside him, startling Toombs. “Enough of this,” the krogan grumbled as she took a step forward. “I’m tired of listening to this bitch’s lies.”

“Back down, Keave.” he said, careful to keep an eye on Shepard as he turned his head towards the krogan.

“Why?” she shot back with a glare. “The pyjak works for Cerberus. We should be crushing her bones beneath our boots, not wasting breath.”

“I said _back down._ ” Toombs repeated, narrowing his eyes. “I’m handling this.”

The krogan stared at him and, for a brief moment, Toombs was sure he had finally pushed her too far. But then she snorted out a breath and turned away, focusing back on Shepard and her partner. “Then finish this already.”

He exhaled, and then raised his pistol up higher. “I don’t care what your goddamn reasons are, Shepard, they’re not good enough.”

 “Then what is?” she demanded. “Toombs, listen to yourself.  There are thousands of lives - maybe even millions – on the line right now. These people need help, protection, and you’re saying we should just turn our backs on them? That it’s worth letting them die if it means not working with Cerberus?” He swallowed, and she took a small step forward. “We took an oath, Toombs. All of us. We swore to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves, no matter the cost. Those words mean something.” She took another step and the muscles in his arm trembled as a fresh wave of pain shivered through them. “They’re why we went to Akuze in the first place, remember? What would Anders say if he could see you now, disgracing them like this? What would Piers?”

Toombs took in a shuddering breath, his head throbbing. _Goddamn Thresher venom,_ he thought to himself as he tried to blink the pounding away. Eight years he’d been living with this curse, yet the pain was still just as strong now as it was that first time the acid had burned its way inside him. Eight goddamn years, day in and day out. There was no end, nothing to make the pain stop. He would never be free.

But neither would Cerberus.

 He exhaled. “Sorry, Shepard,” he said, meeting her eyes once again. “Words aren’t going to solve this problem, not this time.”

She stared at him, and for a moment nothing happened. Toombs breathed in, feeling his broken body tense with anticipation for her next move. She must have realized she couldn’t talk her way out of this by now. Next she would attack him, try to kill him once and for all. And then, finally, he could do the same to her. One way or the other, it would all be over. He licked his lips, watching for the tell-tale twitch of her arm that always signaled her impending Cloak activation.

 _There_. His finger twitched towards his pistol’s trigger as her hand reached towards her omni-tool. _So much for words,_ he thought as he aimed his gun one last time, preparing his shot before she had a chance to disappear. _Of course she was lying, you knew she-_  

His thoughts stumbled as the muffled sound of static echoed through the silent room and Shepard’s shields dropped. Her other hand lowered, aiming her rifle towards the floor as she collapsed the Widow. She looked up and met his eyes.

Shepard was completely defenseless.

Behind her, the turian’s mandibles flared at her actions, and a part of Toombs was gratified to know he wasn’t the only one thrown off by her sudden surrender. The turian edged closer to Shepard, keeping his own rifle carefully aimed at the group across from them.  But, amazingly, he didn’t do more; he didn’t question his commander as Keave had just moments before done to Toombs, nor did the turian take it upon himself to act without her order. He simply repositioned himself to best handle the situation, all the while following Shepard’s lead. _He trusts her with his life,_ Toombs realized dimly, his still shocked mind eagerly accepting the distraction. _She’s a human in Cerberus, but the goddamn fool still believes in her._

“Give me a chance, Toombs.” Shepard said, bringing his attention back towards her. “I couldn’t stop what happened back then on Akuze, but I _will_ stop the Collectors. And once they’re gone, I swear to you Cerberus will answer for everything they’ve done and everyone they’ve ever hurt.”

The venom burned inside him. It felt as if his whole body was shuddering and breaking, finally giving up after all these years. He tightened his grip on his gun, ignoring the way his hand shook with the effort. He couldn’t stop now, not when the moment he had been waiting for for so long was finally here. Just a simple pull of the trigger was all he needed. One shot, and that was it. It would all be over.

“It’s not too late.” Shepard said quietly. "You just have to trust me, Toombs.”

His finger hovered against the trigger.

“Damn pyjaks,” Keave growled, pointing her gun at Shepard. “If you won’t do it I will.”

“No!” Toombs shouted, his vision blurring with pain as he saw the krogan’s finger press down on the trigger.

* * *

 

Garrus had a split second to spare and watched as Toombs rushed at the krogan, slamming into her arm as the shotgun fired. Then Garrus felt Shepard shove into his side, the two of them falling to the ground as the sound of bullets ringing against metal surrounded them.  He couldn’t stop the quiet grunt that followed the jolt of pain that shot out from his wound, but it was hardly the worst he had ever had. His body fell into a roll that carried him to safety behind a nearby couch where Shepard had already taken cover.

Her hands almost seemed to blur as they moved, reactivating her shields and un-collapsing her rifle with movements swift from habit. Garrus felt his mandibles pull tight against his face, remembering the sickening sensation and anger that had flowed through him at her recklessness when she had first surrendered. He pushed the emotions away, however, putting them away until later as he briefly went over the room’s layout in his mind.

The only real furniture was the desk across from them and their own couch, which meant there was limited cover. Toombs’ also had the superior numbers, putting the odds even more in their favor. The only good thing about Garrus and Shepard’s position really was that it put them directly in front of the only door in or out of the room, cutting Toombs’ crew off from both reinforcements or escape. Unless, Garrus amended to himself, someone tried repeating Shepard’s asinine stunt from before and jumped out of the huge window placed inside the back wall. The falling sensation from earlier pulled at his stomach, and Garrus felt his mandibles flick weakly.

He really hoped no one tried jumping out of the window again.

He looked over at his commander as she finished checking over her defenses, and he nodded when her gaze met his. Then, together, the two of them stood up, guns searching for their enemies.

“Toombs!” Shepard shouted as they took in the scene before them. The man was on the ground, a hand clutching his face while the krogan loomed above him. Even from as far away as they were, Garrus could still see the odd crimson liquid that poured out from beneath the human’s grip. Before any of them could react, the krogan kicked out at Toombs, her thickly armored boot smashing into his chest. The man’s pained cry was cut off as she kicked him again, her foot colliding into the side of his head with a sickeningly audible crunch.

An orange ball shot past Garrus as Shepard leaped over the couch. She ran towards the krogan, letting off a shot from her rifle as her Incineration slammed into her target. Keave stumbled as the blast of fire scorched her armor and exposed hide. She recovered quickly, however, patting the embers down as she turned her gaze towards Shepard. The krogan’s eyes narrowed as she brought up her shotgun.

“Heads up!” Garrus shouted, and Keave roared as his Concussive shot pierced through her left eye. She threw her head back with a growl, gripping the wound. He let loose three more rounds, the bullets burying themselves deep into the krogan’s head plate, and then sidestepped as his thermal clip reached its limit. Shepard was there and ready, having already made her way up and over the desk between the krogan and her, and now she took her chance. She leaped off the desk, putting all her weight into her fall as she slammed the butt of her rifle into Keave’s remaining eye. The krogan wailed and stumbled back, buying Garrus enough time to pop out his useless clip. He slid in a new one while Shepard regained her balance and switched to her pistol, the smaller gun better suited to close combat.

The krogan was still shaking her head back and forth as Garrus finished reloading. He brought his gun up, preparing his aim when a series of gunshots rang through the air. Garrus felt his shields buckle beneath the blows and he cursed as they dropped completely. The damn bullets must have been filled with Disrupter Ammo he realized as Shepard glanced back at him. Her eyes went wide and she spun, whipping her gun around and aiming it just behind Garrus.

“Move!” she shouted, and he immediately dove to the side. Not even a second passed before she fired, and a dull grunt came from behind him. The soft, crystal-like _tinging_ that followed told him Shepard’s own modded ammo had found her target. He glanced back behind him with a strange sense of deja-vu, taking in the immobile human standing there, frozen solid with his gun still raised. A part of Garrus chastised himself for focusing all of his attention on the krogan and forgetting about the other human.

A guttural roar brought him back from his thoughts and he turned, feeling his mandibles pull tight against his face in response. The krogan – burned, bloody, and looking like some mad spirit of death as more blood gushed from its eyes – was charging. She moved faster than should have been possible as she devoured the little distance between her and Shepard, whose rescue of Garrus had left her vulnerable and open. Shepard turned, preparing to defend herself, but Garrus knew she didn’t have a chance. There wasn’t enough time, her pistol too weak to take down a charging krogan alone.

Something twisted inside of him, cold and hard as it froze his breath. He scrambled upwards, his pulse pounding in his ears. He had to do something, anything, but damnit there wasn’t _time_. He was barely getting to his feet and the krogan was already almost upon her, Shepard’s bullets doing nothing as they buried themselves into the krogan’s thick head plate. It was going to kill her, he realized with horror. He wasn’t going to make it and Shepard was going to die, right in front of him.

The realization that he’d failed her, that he was going to _lose her_ , filled Garrus with more pain than any wound ever had.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is, after over three whole months almost. I am so sorry it took me this long to get this up on here, really I am. There were a lot of reasons - school, finals, holidays, work, etc - this was so ridiculously late, but honestly I could have gotten this up way sooner if I'd really tried. I just kept putting it off, and for that I completely apologize. I really hope you guys like this chapter (or at the least that its not bad enough to add insult to injury since it took so damn long) and I promise I'll do my best to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.


	13. An End, Once and For All

Shepard swore when the krogan slammed into her, the curse cutting off with a grunt as the sudden force wrenched the breath from her lungs. She flew back against the table, and a sharp pain flared though her head as it smashed back against the hard metal. She coughed, struggling to breathe, and tried to lift her gun up enough to take aim. Keave's fist slammed into the side of her face, the blow snapping her neck to the side with a sudden jerk.

Her vision darkened. She blinked rapidly to drive the sensation away, and then once again brought her weapon up. Another punch struck her face. The taste of blood filled her mouth and, with an abrupt lurch, she felt her body rise as Keave lifted her up by the throat, bringing her close with a savage smile. Shepard glared at the krogan and then, with a quick grin, spit the wad of blood and saliva that had built up in her mouth straight into what was left of Keave's right eye.

The krogan snarled and squeezed down on Shepard's throat mercilessly. Shepard's free hand shot to her neck, grasping wildly as she tried to get purchase enough to break her captor's grip. She felt something wrench her pistol from her other hand and then, suddenly, she was moving, her suspended body swinging through the air like a puppet on its last string. Then just as abruptly Shepard was smashed head first into something hard and cold. There was the brittle crunch of glass shattering, and then pain blazed across the back of her head once again. Blood began to trickle down her face and neck.

She blinked, her vision hazy with suffocation, and tried to make sense of her surroundings. Just in front of her was Keave, whose face was a mess of blood and satisfaction as she tightened her grip on Shepard's throat. Behind the krogan was the rest of the room, laid out before Shepard like a strange, fuzzy, out of focus picture. Something blue and black was moving swiftly closer and, as it paused a little behind Keave, Shepard dimly recognized it as Garrus. She blinked again, slowly, and felt her legs sway dangerously beneath her as she fought to stay conscious. An icy realization began to form in the back of her mind and, grudgingly, she looked upwards.

Instead of the room's ceiling, Shepard's eyes found only the dark murk of Omega's polluted sky.

* * *

"Shepard!" Garrus shouted, watching with horror as the krogan held her by the throat, suspended in midair just outside of the shattered window. "Let her go!" he growled as he came up on Keave's left, just enough behind her that the she had to turn her head to the side in order to look back at him.

The krogan laughed, looking him over with her one good eye. "You sure that's what you want, turian?" she asked. She shook Shepard mockingly and Garrus reflexively took a step forward. "Ah, ah, one more foot and the bitch flies, you hear me?" she added, watching him.

Garrus froze. Hatred pulled his mandibles tight against his face as he glared at Keave. His hands clenched down against his rifle, his finger brushing against the trigger. It itched to take the shot, to sink his next bullet so deep into the krogan's head that no amount of regeneration or medi-gel could save her. Keave was already so far gone at this point that it he was certain one or two more shots would be enough to finally take her down.  _Just one small squeeze,_ he thought, eyes narrowing as he aimed.

_But I'd never make it to Shepard in time._

Something cold spread inside of him as he looked at her, battered and barely breathing as she hung in the dark air. Even now she was still fighting, gripping Keave's arm with both of her hands as she fought to free herself. Her face was getting darker by the second – the normally tan skin taking on a strange, red tint – and Garrus realized that she dying right in front of him. Little by little, Shepard was suffocating and Garrus had no idea how to save her.

He swallowed down the overwhelming helpless that threatened to choke him and wracked his mind for a plan. There had to be  _something_ he could do, some solution he'd overlooked that could help him now. He just had to  _think._

And yet, as the seconds dragged by, no answer came. Shepard's struggles slowed. Keave's smile grew.

A motion to his right caught Garrus' attention. He barely gave the disturbance a glance, hesitant to take his eyes off of Shepard and miss his chance, but then he found himself doing a double-take despite himself.

Coming up on Keave's blindspot, with slow, silent steps, was Toombs.

Garrus had almost forgotten about the human during the last few minutes, assuming the man was still lying in a puddle of blood somewhere, if not worse. Indeed, Toombs looked like he was barely managing to stay conscious as it was, let alone walk. His legs trembled with every step, and half of his head was lost inside of a mess of matted hair and blood. But even still, the man pressed on, little droplets of blood trailing behind him.

He was close now, closer to Keave than even Garrus. More still, the krogan was completely oblvious; her eye on that side was long since ruined, and what little of her attention that wasn't already focused on Shepard rested with Garrus. Toombs was less than three feet away now, and Keave had no idea.

The man's eyes found Garrus, and the dark iris's glittered with the words that whispered in Garrus' thoughts:  _this is your chance._

For a moment, Garrus hesitated. For just one moment, he let the uncertainty and doubt tell him not to do it; tell him that, just this once, the risk was too great.  _Her_ life was too great, too vital to place in hands of one deranged mercenary. She was the one last light of hope in a galaxy full of shadows; a light Garrus had sworn he'd never let go out again.

And that was exactly why, with a silent prayer, Garrus fired.

* * *

The next few moments seemed to blur for Toombs.

He dived and glass crunched beneath his armor as he fell to the ground, scraping against the reinforced metal. The sounds of gunfire mingled with roars of pain as something large fell past him, tumbling down and over the window's edge into the dark below. The muscles in his arm shrieked with pain as his hand caught hold of Shepard's forearm and her weight threatened to drag them both down.

Toombs bit his lip, fighting to stay in control of his sinking body. He tightened his grip and  _pulled._ Inch by torturous inch he fought, and inch by inch, she rose. He felt a sudden pressure on his own forearm as Shepard grabbed hold, steadying herself. And then, with one last massive heave, she was up and safe and the two of them collapsed onto the mercifully solid floor.

He got one glance at her – one brief moment of respite to see the way her coughing racked her body and the way the turian was already huddled by her side – and then the pain was upon him. It seized Toombs' entire body, ripping into him with a vengeance. It tore the breath from his lungs, set his mind on fire as it burned its way through his veins. He would have screamed if he'd had the air, wept if it would have doused the flames. But all Toombs could do was tremble, tremble and endure and wait for the shaking to end, just as he always had.

Gradually, he became aware of something other than the agony, something solid and strong. It held him steady, keeping all but the worst of his jerking contained. An armored hand, cloaked in amber light, hovered above his head wound and then a welcome numbness dimmed the throbbing ache. He blinked as his body stilled, his vision hazy and dull. A hand cupped his face.

"Toombs?" the voice was hoarse and dim, far away from the hell he lived in. "Toombs, can you hear me?"

He blinked once or twice more until her face took form above him. Her eyes were blood-shot and weary, but just as green as he'd always remembered.

"Garrus, hurry, call a medic shuttle! He needs-"

"Don't." Toombs said, but the word came out as little more than a rasp. He coughed and tried again. "Don't bother."

"Toombs!" Her face was back, split by a smile as wide as it was worried. "Shh, just hold on, we're getting you help."

"Shepard," he croaked, then broke off as his body convulsed with a fresh wave of shuddering.

"Garrus! Get that medic here now!"

"Shepard," Toombs repeated, forcing the words out through gritted teeth. "It's no use. I'm dying."

"No, you're not." she swore, eyes glittering in the dim light of her omni-tool. "We've got medi-gel, and your wounds aren't fatal. Just let me-"

" _I'm already a dead man."_ He breathed in deep as his body stilled for the moment. "Always have been." he continued, taking advantage of the brief respite. It wouldn't be long now, he knew. Might as well come clean.

"No. I'll get you help." she pressed, chin set in that same way it always did when she was determined to get her way.

_Stubborn ass hasn't changed a damn bit._ "You can't help me, Shepard." he said, the harsh words dulled with resignation. "No one can."

She was silent as she processed his words. Then: "It was Cerberus, wasn't it."

His laugh fell somewhere between a cough and a wheeze. "Wonder what those bastards would give to see the end result of all their experiments now, huh? To see how thresher venom eats away at the body and brain even years after its initial injection." He swallowed. "Well, won't they be disappointed."

"You've known all along?" Shepard asked, staring down at him.

"Long enough." he answered. "Figured it out a few months after the first few fits. Alliance docs confirmed it about a year after you went M.I.A."

Silence. "I'm so sorry." she finally said, softly.

He closed his eyes, swallowed again. The lump in his throat stayed where it was. He opened his eyes and glared at the woman above him. "For what? For wasting all your time cleaning up a mess that was taking care of itself all on its own? Or are you just sorry that it's taken this damn long to finish what Cerberus started back on Akuze?"

He regretted the words even before they were out of his mouth, and yet a part of him still felt satisfied in watching the way they cut into her; the way each syllable carved a fresh scar into her otherwise untouched skin.  _Good_ , he thought, even as he looked away from the pain he'd caused.  _It'll be less easy for her to forget this way._

"Toombs, I  _swear,"_ Shepard whispered."I had nothing to do with Akuze. You have to believe me, I would never-"

"Stop." he said, shutting his eyes. He took in as deep of a breath as he could, letting the sensation fill him up. "Just stop, alright?" he finally exhaled. "I believe you."

He heard a small breath above him, and he opened his eyes. They stared at one another. "Whatever you are now doesn't change the fact that you're still that same damn kid I knew eight years ago. And that brat never betrayed her comrades, so…there it is."

"Yeah?" she asked, the word a breath of a laugh. "Well, I hate to break it to you but you haven't changed much either, old man. Still just as grouchy as ever, and just as shitty of a shot too. I mean, who misses with a rocket launcher?"

Something tugged at the corner of his lips, old but familiar. "Hmph. I would have had you if weren't for your boyfriend over there." he said, tossing a glance over at the turian for the first time. He was standing a discreet distance away, obviously trying to give them some privacy while still being close enough to intervene if necessary; intervene against what, though, Toombs had no idea. Maybe the guy thought Toombs would try to take one last crack at Shepard or something, or hell maybe he even thought that Keave would climb back up the building and try jumping them all. Who knew with turians. "I thought you Cerberus lackeys were supposed to hate aliens, not sleep with them." Toombs said, focusing back on Shepard.

Her eyes were on the turian, watching him. "It's not like that." she said, voice soft. "He's a member of my crew."

_Damn girl doesn't even know_ , Toombs thought. He opened his mouth to repeat the thought aloud when once again his body seized.

"Toombs!" Shepard shouted, clutching him as he jerked against her arms. The tremors came viciously and suddenly, pulling at him from every direction stronger than ever before. His vision swam into a sea of red and black, broken only by the rare glimpse of green. Agony filled his lungs.  _This is it_ , a voice whispered from within him, soft and sweet.

He gritted his teeth, his hands curling into fists.  _Not yet,_ he shouted back.  _Just a little longer, just give me that._ As if in response, the tremors slowed; they didn't stop, but they subsided just enough for him to regain the control he needed.

"Shepard." he hissed through clenched teeth. The words were barely more than gasp.

She leaned in close, her own words quiet. "I'm here, Toombs. I'm right here."

He breathed in deep, fought to form the words he needed to say. Another wave shuddered through him and her hand found his, anchoring him to her world. He swallowed. "Don't…forget, Shepard." The tremors were coming back, pounding against him. "Don't let Cerberus get away with this"  _It's time,_ the voice whispered. He opened his eyes wide, searching for hers. "Don't…forget."

"I won't." she promised, green eyes shimmering like a distant sea. He could see almost see a far off shore there, beckoning him, promising him the end he'd waited so long for.

_An end,_ Toombs thought as he closed his eyes.  _An end, once and for all._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So this chapter was still way later than what I'd wanted - but only one month instead of three, so hey there's that? - and I'm really sorry for that. This scene was just really important to me, and I wanted to do it right. I am sorry it took so long though, and I'm also sorry for not getting back to any of the reviews for the last chapter. I really do appreciate all the wonderful support and feedback you guys give me; it means the world to me to see how you guys react to this story and to know you're still putting up with all my horrible updating. Since there's only one more chapter to go (well, that's how it's planned out anyway, so hopefully we can stick to that), I'm going to do my absolute best to get it up here as soon as possible; definitely within a month, I promise. Anyway, that's about it, so I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I hated writing it, and I'll see you back here soon!~


	14. Warmth and Silence

Garrus blinked, rubbing his eyes wearily with a hand. He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly as he looked up, over to where Shepard stood. Her back was to him as she spoke to the medic, and he caught the way her shoulders just barely slumped as she spoke. The pair was too far away from him for Garrus to hear their words, but he could guess what the conversation was about. Almost repentantly, his eyes drifted over to where the black bags lay, spread out in neat rows on the street in front of the mortuary shuttle. Even from Garrus's position over by the merc base's entrance, he could still smell the death that surrounded the bodies.

He sighed again and shifted into a more comfortable position as he leaned back against the building's wall.  _That's all this place is,_ he thought as he closed his eyes.  _Death and body bags._

He was still standing there when, some minutes later, he heard the sound of raised voices. He opened his eyes and watched as the medic Shepard had been speaking to moved away, gesturing to his assistants. The other two humans began to pack up the bodies into the shuttle under his supervision. Shepard walked over to the dark bag closest to her, staring down at it for a moment before kneeling quietly beside it. Part of Garrus told him to look away, to give Shepard what little privacy he could. But there was another, smaller part of him that refused to, a part that was afraid that if he took his eyes off of her, even for a moment, he would look back only to find that she too had disappeared into one of those black bags.

The image sent a chill through him. He coughed, clearing his throat, and forced himself to turn away. He stared down at the ground, crossing his arms across his chest while he waited. A few minutes more passed and then Garrus heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He looked up and found Shepard's eyes as she headed his way. They seemed overly bright in the street's dim light.

"Ready to go?" she asked as she came up beside him, her voice as tired as the rest of her looked.

Garrus nodded and then hesitated. He glanced back towards the body bags, noticing that the one at the end was gone. "Commander…," he began, unsure of how to continue. "There's no rush." he finished lamely as he looked away from the empty space.

Shepard shook her head, looking away from both him and the shuttle. One of her hands was clenched into a fist as her side. "No, thank you though. But the sooner we get off this hellhole, the better. I've had enough of this place."

It was a sentiment he knew all too well. "Understood, Commander." he said quietly, hoping those two words were strong enough to hold all he wanted to say with them.

Some of it must have gotten across, because she looked back at him with eyes soft with gratitude. "Do you mind getting that up and running?" she asked as she tilted her head towards the transit cab Garrus had summoned earlier while she dealt with the medics. "I'm going to write up a quick message for Miranda, telling her we're on our way back finally. Probably should have done that earlier, but…" Shepard rubbed the back of her neck, sighing. "Well, better late than never I guess."

"Sure thing, Shepard." he said as he straightened up and headed towards the cab. Garrus paused just before he climbed into it, however, and gave one last glance towards the mortuary shuttle across the street. He nodded towards the unseen body he knew lay within it, and then he turned away and got into the cab.

Shepard arrived a moment later and climbed into the passenger seat. She nodded at him as she settled in, and Garrus pulled down on the steering wheel, lifting the shuttle up. Shepard looked out of her window, staring down at the ground below them as they rose higher into the air. One of her hands was still clenched tight beside her thigh, and Garrus waited for her to give him an order. A moment passed, then another, and then Shepard took in a deep breath. She faced forward as she exhaled, and Garrus hit the accelerator. The cab raced forward, leaving the empty building and the black bags far behind it.

They drove in silence. Garrus kept his attention on the traffic, weaving in and out of the other shuttles that surrounded them. Every now and then his gaze would wander over to the quiet woman next to him, but the glances told him little. There were times when he felt as if he should say something, anything, but what was there to say really? And who was he to say it? So the silence staggered on, and Garrus focused on driving.

Eventually, they arrived at the docking bay. Garrus lowered their cab down into one of the nearby parking slots, and Shepard climbed out after they touched ground. He followed after her, locking up the rental and paying for its lease via his omni-tool as he did so. By the time he was done, Shepard had already reached and started up their Kodiack, and she was beginning launch preparations as Garrus climbed in with her. His brow plates raised when his eyes landed on the large crate situated between the Kodiack's back benches.

"I'm guessing those are the parts?" he asked as he made his way to the front and settled into the passenger seat. It seemed like an eternity had passed since Shepard and him had first arrived searching for them.

"Good ol' Aria came through," Shepard sighed in answer as she secured clearance for take-off. "Let's just hope they're worth the cost. I get the feeling favors from her don't come cheap."

Garrus grunted in agreement. A moment or two passed and then the shuttle lurched beneath them as Shepard brought it airborne. His multitude of injuries twinged at the rough motion, and he shot her a side-long glance. "Any hope of me driving?" he asked half-heartedly.

A ghost of a smile appeared on her face. "Not a chance, Vakarian." she said as she pushed the throttle forward.

The Kodiack jerked forward. They flew towards the dark horizon, threading past ship after ship in quick succession until, finally, they breached Omega's border and left the space station behind. Garrus watched on a nearby monitor as it shrunk behind them, not regretful in the least to see it gone.

Silence settled around them again, undisturbed as they drifted quietly through space. Once they had left Omega's airspace completely, Shepard engaged the shuttle's auto-pilot and sank back into her seat with a barely contained sigh. She breathed in deep and Garrus watched out of the corner of his eyes as she closed her own, letting her head fall back against her seat.  _She looks exhausted_ , he thought to himself as he took in the lines etched across her face. He didn't blame her.

Garrus turned away and stared down at his hands, idly scratching his leg with one. He wondered again if he ought to say something or try and comfort her in some way. It was what she would do in his place, he knew. It seemed so easy for her, so natural to always be there with a quiet word or gentle touch. Just once, Garrus wanted to be able to do the same for her. He just didn't know how.

The silence stretched on.

He was still struggling over his own inability to breach it when Shepard spoke, sparring him the trouble. "I went back to Akuze." she said abruptly, her words quiet and toneless. Garrus glanced over at her, noticing that her eyes were open slightly, just enough for him to catch the occasional glint of green beneath her eyelids. "Just once, a few months after I'd returned to duty."

Garrus blinked, waiting. After a moment he asked, "What happened?"

"Nothing, really." Shepard answered in the same empty voice as before. "The thresher maws had already been cleared out by then, but the colony was still mostly abandoned. People were still scared, I guess, or maybe they just couldn't go back after what they'd seen. I don't know."

"But you did." Garrus said, watching her. "Went back, I mean."

"Yeah," she said, softly. "I did." She looked down at the hand she'd had clutched beside her. There was a dull glint of light against burnished metal as she opened her palm, showing Garrus the pair of dog tags she held for the first time. It was just light enough in the shuttle for him to see the word  _Toombs_ engraved on them, along with a service number and some other numbers. "It was so quiet then, you know? Almost kind of wrong, really," she continued, tracing the tags with her thumb. "It's like you get this image of a place in your mind, and for the longest time it's all you can see or think about. You remember all these things, things you wish you didn't, but you do. Every day and every night, you remember them, every single one. And you think maybe that's what hell is, being trapped in those memories. But then, when you actually go back to that place and find out that it's all gone. Everything looks different and nothing's the same, like the things you remember never even happened or like the world just moved on and forgot all about them….and it just feels wrong." She gripped her hand into a weak fist as her words faded into the silence.

Garrus blinked slowly, watching Shepard while he thought about what she had said. Her confession seemed to have changed something in her, or maybe it was Garrus who'd been changed. He wasn't really sure. This whole mission had shown him side of Shepard he'd never imagined, and now it was if he was finally seeing her for the first time. She was still the same woman he had always known– the same infamous Commander, an indominatible force of nature and sheer willpower – but now Garrus saw so much more. There was doubt beneath her confident grin, guilt burning in her eyes. And for some reason, Garrus found himself suddenly thinking about his old crew.

He also thought about how he'd never realized just how beautiful Shepard was.

A moment passed and she let out a shaky breath that struggled to pass its self-off as a laugh. "Sorry, none of that really made any sense, did it?" She blinked a few times as she ran a hand through her hair. "Must have banged my head harder than I thought earlier. Just ignore me and pretend–"

"Shepard," Garrus said, stopping her. Something important had just changed between them and, even if he didn't entirely understand it or what it meant, he had to acknowledge it somehow. If he didn't, he knew he might lose it forever, and that Garrus couldn't accept. "I…" he trailed off, tripping over the words in his mind. "I just…Well, you can tell me anything." She looked over at him, her eyes bright with more than he could understand just then. "Whatever it is, I'll listen." he finished softly.

She stared at him for a moment more, gripping the necklace in her hand. Garrus stared back.

"I never forgot them," she finally whispered as the guilt trickled from her eyes and down her face. "Never."

Garrus hesitated, and then he reached over and folded his hand over her own. "I know." he answered.

And then there was only silence and the warmth of her hand against his.

* * *

 

Miranda tapped her fingers against her desk, the motion sharp and quick.

She frowned when she realized she what she was doing and folded her hands together, controlling them as she rested her chin on top of them. Once again, she stared at the screen before her.

_Miranda,_

_Sorry to keep you waiting, but I ran into someone on Omega and had to take care of a few things. We're on our way back now though, ETA under two hours._

_\- Shepard_

_P.S._

_Can you have Chakwas prep the med bay? It's nothing too serious; mostly burns and scraps. And probably a fracture or two now that I think about it. Thanks._

Miranda narrowed her eyes.

Thirteen hours. The Commander had been off the grid for  _thirteen hours_ – for a mission that should have taken no more than six, by Miranda's own calculations – and this was the only explanation she'd provided. Less than one hundred words in total. Nothing else about Shepard's associate nor any details on the "things" she had somehow gotten herself involved in.  _Though I should hardly be surprised there,_ Miranda reflected, recalling how open-handed Shepard was with her time. As if they all had nothing better to do than single-handedly solve everyone else's problems.

And what was that last bit about about the med bay? Burns and fractures? If Miranda had been anyone else, she would have groaned.

"Operative Lawson," came a cool voice from the intercom above her.

"Yes, EDI?" she asked, glancing upwards.

"You requested notification concerning Commander Shepard and Officer Vakarian's return. They are docking the Kodiack in the hanger bay as we speak."

"Thank you, EDI." she said, standing up. "Please inform the Commander I will meet her outside this floor's elevator. And tell Engineer Donnelly to retrieve the parts and begin repairs immediately."

"Yes, Miss Lawson."

Miranda paused for a moment, taking in a measured breath. It would serve no one if she let her temper get the better of her. Even if the Commander seemed determined to do everything in her power to provoke it.

Satisfied that she was in complete control of herself, Miranda left her office. She made her way past the dining hall and over to the elevator, positioning herself just before the doors. She waited.

The shaft opened a minute later and, much to her chagrin, Miranda found herself more than a little shocked by what greeted her. The Commander and the turian sagged before her, the withered pair standing slightly closer than normal, as if each was preparing to catch and support the other if need be. Their faces were drawn and exhausted, though Vakarian seemed to be the worse off. His armor was blackened and cracked, with several chunks missing altogether in some places. Dried blood and medi-patches flaked off even as Miranda watched, and there was a hideous looking wound in his right side. Shepard hardly looked better – more than half of her face was mottled by savage looking bruises. One of her eyes was so swollen and blistered it might as well have been useless for all the good it seemed to do her. Her right arm also seemed damaged, slumping slightly by her side as if she was trying to avoid using it as much as possible.

"Shepard," Miranda said, trying to keep the surprise out of her voice. "What the hell happened down there?"

The Commander looked up at her. Their eyes met, and Miranda almost recoiled from the look that darkened Shepard's face. Shepard glared, her eyes narrowed with intensity and…something else as she stared at Miranda. But then, just as abruptly as it had appeared, the look was gone, replaced instead with a weary grin. "Oh, the usual. Routine shopping and near-death experiences. Just another typical Tuesday really."

"Just another…?" Miranda repeated, glancing between the two in front of her. As usual, Vakarian's face betrayed nothing, and all she could see on Shepard's was exhaustion. Had she imagined the whole thing? "Commander, this is hardly the time for jokes. Cerberus invested an extraordinary amount in you and –"

Again, Shepard's eyes flashed. No, Miranda definitely hadn't imagined it then. But the Commander's tone was normal when she said, "And they want to see a return on their "investment", right? I'm well aware of my responsibilities, Miranda." She sighed then, running a hand through her tattered hair. Vakarian's mandibles flicked in response.

"Commander, we really should get you looked at," he murmured, watching her.

She smirked. "Because you're in such a fantastic condition yourself, eh Garrus?" The turian's eyes narrowed in amusement, and Shepard turned back to Miranda, her expression not unkind when she said, "I'm sorry for making you worry, Miranda, honest. I should have kept you better informed. Just let me drop this lug off over at Chakwa's and I'll debrief you first thing, alright?"

"Of course, Commander." Miranda replied, keeping her composure carefully controlled. She moved out of their way, surreptitiously studying the pair as they hobbled their way towards the med bay. They said nothing to one another, yet they remained close while they walked, almost touching. Something seemed different about them, but Miranda couldn't put a name to it. Not just yet, in any case. She thought back to the hostility she'd seen on Shepard's face when Miranda had mentioned Cerberus.

What the hell had happened on Omega? Miranda wondered, bewildered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here it is! This took way longer than I'd wanted, but at least I finished before the month was out like I wanted. I think I mentioned this before, but I'd originally planned for this chapter to be the last one. But, because you guys have just been so freaking amazing and supportive and have stuck through so much of my crap and late updates, there's going to be one more bonus epilogue chapter. It's my way of telling you all how much I appreciate all you fantastic, beautiful people, and I really hope you guys will enjoy it~ It should be up in three weeks or less, so see you all then!


	15. Epilogue and a Movie Pt 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: this chapter ended up being crazy long, so I split it up into two parts so you guys wouldn't get bogged down by so much text. Sorry for any confusion!

Shepard stared down her terminal, frowning.

Her foot tapped against the floor as she continued to scan the screen. After a few seconds, she closed out of the webpage, switching over to another. One glance told her this one was another failure as well, however, and she shut it down with a sharp click on her keyboard. She tapped her finger against her desk, thinking for a moment, and then browsed over to another site.

Ten sites later, she finally gave up and pushed back from the desk with a disgusted groan. She leaned back in her chair, her head hanging over its edge as she glared up at her cabin's ceiling.

It had seemed so  _simple_ at first, back when the idea had originally come to her the day they'd returned to the Normandy. After she'd finished debriefing Miranda, Shepard had gone straight back to the medbay to check in on Garrus. She'd barely gotten a glance of him, however, before Chakwas had all but shoved Shepard back out of the door, declaring that her patient needed rest, and that no, there wasn't any permanent damage, and yes, he would be fine – so long as a certain commander managed to refrain from dragging him away before his wounds had a chance to fully heal, that was.

So Shepard had retreated to the safety of her cabin where she could think over the long day and it's revelations in private, or at least however much of that she could get on a Cerberus ship. She'd placed Toombs' tags on the same chain her own were on and then, after staring at them both for a time, she'd sealed them away into the frame Liara had given her. Then Shepard had shut herself up inside her bathroom and taken a shower that, no matter how many times she'd increased the temperature, had never managed to feel hot enough.

It had been long into the ship's night cycle when she'd finally emerged from her cabin fully dressed and in control. She'd hesitated before calling the elevator, remembering Chakwas' earlier reprimand, but then summoned it up regardless. One quick look and then she'd be gone, Shepard had reasoned as she'd rode the elevator down to the crew deck and made her way to medbay. No harm could come from that surely. Still, she'd inhaled deeply as she entered the room, and her excuses and arguments for breaking a doctor's orders had stood armed and ready on her lips.

They hadn't been necessary as it turned out. Chakwas had been nowhere in sight in the dimly lit room and Shepard had made her way to its single occupied bed unhindered. There the solitary patient had lain still and silent beneath his sheets, the steady beeping of a heart monitor enough to tell Shepard that his sleep was one undisturbed by pain. Still, she'd checked the readings on the nearby machines to reassure herself that the turian's injuries hadn't been as serious as she'd feared. Everything was healing fine, though, and so Shepard had been free to leave with no one the wiser of her ever being there in the first place.

Instead, however, Shepard had lingered. Without really knowing why, she'd quietly pulled a nearby chair closer to Garrus' bed and sat down in it. Then she'd simply watched the rise and fall of his chest as the turian slept. She should have left, she knew, but somehow it had felt  _right_ being there by his side. Besides, it was her fault he was in the medbay to begin with, wasn't it?

Her eyes had drifted down the wound in his side then, hidden away beneath a large wrapping of white cloth. The rest of his torso had been left exposed, as his sheets had risen up only to his dressing's bottom edge, and, despite feeling like some kind of voyeur, Shepard had found herself staring. She'd never seen Garrus outside of armor before, she'd realized, let alone like…well, this.

His skin was a gentle brown, the same color she'd gotten occasional glances of on his neck. Sporadic bumps of carapace, more silver than white, rose out of the hide along his arms. Some of them were large and long while others were no bigger than a freckle. A grooved plate of it covered his chest and cowl completely, stretching on down his sides before, Shepard guessed, continuing onto his back as well. The talons on his fingers were a darker color, almost black. Without thinking, Shepard had reached up and touched one, tracing the sharp talon slowly.

Heat had radiated up from his skin, and she'd wondered if it was due to fever or infection. Then she'd remembered how his hand had felt against hers before – warm and solid despite the layers of armor between them – when they'd jumped together into an empty sky, and she'd decided it was likely just a result of natural turian biology.

Shepard's cheeks had tingled with warmth as that moment of freefalling replayed in her mind, and she'd quickly drawn her hand back, swallowing the memory down. She'd decided much earlier to ignore those strange emotions she'd begun to feel every time she thought about Garrus, and thinking of his hand in hers hadn't done much to help her keep that resolution. Neither had staring at him while he was half naked either for that matter, bruises and bandages notwithstanding – although he'd been so covered in the former that they very well could have counted as some sort of clothing in a way.

Guilt had creased her face as she'd taken in the numerous black-and-brown contusions that stained his skin. She'd tried to count them all, knowing each and every one was a result of her actions. He'd endured so much on their trip to Omega and never once had he complained. He'd simply watched her back, even when it had almost cost him his. How could she ever make that up to him? How could she make him understand just how thankful she was for him being with her through all of this, for keeping her sane and grounded when everything beneath her seemed to constantly break away?

And that was when the idea had come to her:  _a gift_. Something from her to him that could say what words wouldn't. It hadn't been the best idea, sure, but at least it'd had potential. And, even better, it'd been simple enough that there was no way she could mess it up.

Shepard snorted, rolling her eyes as she remembered her confidence.  _Simple._ Right. And yet here she was, a week later and not a thing to show for it aside from an overwhelming urge to toss her terminal out of the airlock. She'd spent practically every moment of free time she'd had scouring the extranet for gifts ideas, trying to figure out what was the turian equivalent gift for "thanks for saving my ass all those times" and also came pre-wrapped. The results hadn't been promising: wax-crafted figurines and similar home-décor furnishings (did Garrus even have a house somewhere?); subscriptions to  _The Turian Times_ or  _The_   _Palavan Periodical_ ; some top-of-the-line brand of electric fringe trimmers, which was this season's must have in turian colonies, apparently – all too generic, and none of them feeling personal enough.

Once, in a moment of desperation, she'd even dared going on an interspecies dating advice site for help. The options there had been much  _too_ personal, however, and afterwards she'd promptly wiped her extranet history, all the while thinking of explanations or threats she could use in case Liara or EDI were spying on her.

Shepard paused, and then sat forward in her chair.  _Of course,_ she realized as she thought of Liara. What better use was there for having the Shadow Broker in her pocket – and thus unlimited access to the galaxy's most clandestine information – than figuring out the perfect present for her alien best friend?

Feeling more optimistic than she had in days, Shepard reached for her terminal and brought up the Shadow Broker's dossiers on her crew. A small pang of guilt poked her side, whispering things like  _invasion of privacy_ and  _common courtesy,_ but she ignored it as she opened up the file marked 'Garrus Vakarian'. This was for an extremely important cause, after all.

Shepard scrolled through the data, looking for the godsend she needed. The first thing that caught her eyes was the specs on his visor.  _Unique model based on Kuwashii frame. Magnification up to 100x intergrated target tracing._ What was it that those new Spectre prototypes she'd seen the other day went up to? 150x? 175? Yes, that could work, Shepard thought as she continued to read the file. In fact, it might just be perfect. A new HMW class visor was enough to make Shepard herself drool with desire, so she could only imagine how well it'd go over with a fellow sniper like Garrus.

She bit her lip a moment later, however, when she reached the names: Erash, Monteague, Mierin, Grundan Krul…the list went on, each one carefully carved into his visor's frame with the exception of the last. That one had been burned away until nothing remained but a blackened friendship that still smoked with betrayal. This information  _was_ an invasion of privacy, and she scrolled away from it; she of all people knew that everyone had their ghosts, and Shepard would be damned before she disturbed his.

So a new visor was out then. Still, the idea was a good one, and Shepard tucked it away for further evaluation as she continued to peruse the file. She paused when she came across the Top Five Tracklist, her brows flying high in amusement. The national turian anthem seemed an odd first choice for a self-proclaimed turian rebel. And selections from the  _Fleet and Flotilla_  and  _Vaenia_  soundtracks too? Well, well, well….Maybe she could get him some autographed hardcopies of the albums? Although she'd have a hell of a time explaining how she just happened to know his dirty little secrets;  _Well, Garrus, it's really quite simple you see. I just looked it up on your secret file Liara gave me. It was right next your kill records and the names of your dead crew._

So no on the albums too, then.

Shepard tapped her foot, going back to idea of a new visor. It had fit so  _well,_ being both practical and clever, much like Garrus himself. She tapped her foot harder. If only there was someway to…

Her foot stilled. A moment later, her lips began to curl in victory.

"EDI?" she asked into the empty air.

"Yes, Commander?"

"Is there anyway you could get me Officer Vakarian's physical measurements without him knowing?"

"Of course, Commander."

* * *

 

If there was one thing Garrus Vakarian enjoyed most about being aboard a Cerberus vessel, it was the showers.

He sighed as he stepped beneath the falling water. His hide melted under the warm drops, and the lingering aches inside his bruised muscles disappeared down the drain. He breathed the curtain of steam surrounding him in deep.

Yes, this was definitely one of the better perks of life off a regulation ship.

Sometime later, when he was out of excuses for staying in just a minute longer, Garrus finally stepped out of the shower and dried off. Then he turned to orderly pile of armor that awaited him. His mandibles flicked as he took in the sorry condition the armor was in, more holes than plates these days. Fitting in a way, he supposed as he caught a glimpse of himself in one of the bathroom's mirrors. He was holding together barely better than the armor was, really. Still, he thought as he began to strap the pieces on, he'd have to get a new set eventually _._ Not that that was likely to happen anytime soon, though. A vigilante's salary covered very little as he'd found out.

Garrus was dressed and out of the bathroom long before the majority of the crew was even awake, and he encountered only one or two heavy-lidded humans, huddled over steaming cups of something, as he made his way back to forward battery. He nodded mechanically to them, his mind distracted with thoughts of the new firing algorithm he planned to install today. It would shave off.004% of the main guns reaction time if his calculations were correct.

He was still distracted by his impending calibrations when he entered the main battery, so it took him a minute or two to notice the large crate lying beside his workstation. He eyed it for a moment, trying to recall if he'd put in a requisition with Shepard for a new upgrade recently. If he had, he couldn't remember, and he walked over to crate, curious. After looking it over one last time, Garrus opened it.

His mandibles flared as he stared down at the polished armor lying within. It was sleek and silver and dark, with red padding beneath the plates. Bright blue lighting broke out along the plate's edges and cut across the middle of the chest piece. His eyes caught on something long and slender, and he reached down and picked it up, bringing the headpiece closer for a better look. A state-of-the-art  _HMW Model 264-G,_  fully compatible with his own custom visor.He held the headset reverently, eyes wide as he took in the beautiful craftsmanship of the Spectre-grade prototype he'd only ever seen in his dreams.

His mind caught on that word.  _Spectre._

"EDI," he called as he continued to marvel at this sudden treasure.

"How may I assist you, Mr. Vakarian?" the AI answered, popping up behind him.

"Did the Commander have this delivered here?" he asked.

"Yes."

He set the headset down, albeit reluctantly. It alone must have cost more credits than he'd earned in a year back at C-Sec, and that wasn't even considering the rest of the armor. Could this be some sort of payment from Shepard? He knew most of the others had required compensation in some form for joining the crew, but surely Shepard knew he was here out of loyalty, not greed. Didn't she?

"Mr. Vakarian?"

He started slightly, looking back at the small blue orb. "Yes?"

There was a pause, then: "I believe the Commander intended for the package to be a gift."

Garrus stared. "A gift." he repeated.

"Correct." the orb replied. "A note was also included within its contents, according to the delivery manifest."

Garrus turned back to crate, carefully shifting its contents around as he searched. There, at the bottom. He pulled the small datapad up and activated it. Words appeared on the screen.

_Almost got you a new set of clothes, but I figured you needed this more. Do me a favor from now on and try running_ away  _from explosives in the future instead of into them. It's less messy, I promise._

–  _Shepard_

_P.S._

_Thanks for everything._

Garrus stared at the note, his mandibles suddenly burning against his faceplates. He flicked them to cool them off and cleared his throat. His eyes glanced down to the armor, and then back to datapad, rereading it. Finally, he set it down, tucking it in carefully among the armor's padding. Then he opened up his omni-tool's mailbox and began to write.

 


	16. Epilogue and a Movie Pt 2

_This was a stupid idea,_  Garrus told himself for the tenth time later that night as he boarded the elevator. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and twisted his hands together around the small data drive. All too soon, the doors opened.

 _This was a stupid idea,_ Garrus told himself again as he stared at the door to her cabin.

The green light glared at him when he approached it, taunting him, and his mandibles grew hot once again. He flicked them once, twice, then a third time. It barely seemed to help.  _It's not too late,_ a small voice whispered in the back of his mind.  _Just get back in the elevator and we can pretend this never happened._ Garrus very nearly listened to it, stopping only because he heard the elevator's doors close shut behind him. He was stranded now.

 _For Spirit's sake, it's just Shepard,_ a new voice groaned.  _Knock on the door already._

 _Don't do it,_  the other one whispered back.

"I'm going insane." Garrus said aloud quietly, cupping his face in a hand. He sighed and then stood up straight, fixing his gaze on the door. He took in a deep breath, held it. A moment passed. Then he knocked on the door.

It seemed less than a second before it opened and there she was in front of him, one hand resting on her hip while the other was lost inside her copper hair as it rubbed the back of her head. The motion stopped when she recognized her visitor.

"Garrus." she stated, taking him in. He fought the urge to preen or straighten his clothes. He was wearing one of the few good civilian outfits he had left, thinking it an appropriate choice at time. Now, however, he wondered if maybe he should have worn his new armor after all. At least Shepard's attire was just as unusual as his, he reflected thankfully; Garrus had never seen the sleeveless, form-fitting top she now wore on her before, though he did remember similar ones being a favorite for the C-Sec humans during combat exercises. Had she been training up here before he'd interrupted? Her cabin  _was_  large for a spaceship, but surely there wasn't room enough for a proper workout session, was there? "What can I do for you?" she asked, breaking his inner debate.

"Shepard. I just, ah," he cleared his throat. "I just thought I'd come up to say thanks. For the armor. It fits like a second plate."

She blinked once, and then the corners of her mouth curled with triumph. Her hand fell down to her hip, joining the other one as she grinned at him. "Really? Honestly, I was worried about the fit a little. Turian measurements are…well, different."

"Hmm, speaking honestly, it  _was_ a little tight in the arms…." His mandibles spread into a smile when her face fell and he raised his hands in front of him in surrender. "Kidding, Shepard."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Real funny, Garrus. Good to know all those blows to the head haven't dampened that razor wit of yours."

"Some of us are just lucky that way, I guess." he answered with a shrug. Her lips twitched at the joke and a shiver of satisfaction went down his neck. He didn't know what to say next, however, and the moment began to stretch thin after that.

Shepard seemed to notice this as well, eventually breaking it by asking, "So you liked the armor then?" She glanced away as she spoke, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"I love it." Garrus said, staring at the strand. He blinked, then looked away. "Actually, Commander," he continued as casually as he could as his mandibles pulled tight against his face, "I, uh, wanted to give you this in return. As a thanks." He held up the data drive for her to take.

Her brow lowered as she took it, looking it over. "Garrus, the armor was a gift. You don't need to give me anything –"

"I know," he answered quickly, "and it's nothing special, trust me." he explained, glancing at the drive. "Just something I thought you might find… _entertaining_."

She glanced up at him with narrowed eyes, catching his tone. "Garrus, what's on this drive?"

"And ruin the surprise?"

"You know how I feel about surprises."

"Hmm. Well, if you insist, Commander…" he answered slowly, drawing out each word. He let out a long sigh. "It's a vid."

She paused and Garrus almost hummed with amusement as he watched her process this new information. She didn't disappoint him either when, a second later, her eyes flashed with suspicion.

" _What_ vid?" she asked.

"Commander, really –"

"Answer the question, Vakarian."

He cleared his throat and waited a moment, holding her gaze. Then: "The Commander and the Citadel."

Shepard didn't move, only glanced back down at the drive with wary eyes, as if she was looking at a potential threat. "How the hell did you even get this?" she asked, words drenched with a morbid curiosity. "It's not even supposed to be out for months."

Garrus shrugged, leaning against the door frame. "I have my ways." he answered. Then, when she looked up at him and it became clear she wouldn't take just that for an answer, he added, "I did a favor for the director once, back during my C-Sec days. He owed me one, and when I mentioned  _who_ the copy was for, well…" Garrus flicked his mandibles. "He can't wait for your review, by the way."

"I'll bet," she muttered darkly, then sighed. "This is going to be a long night."

Garrus' subvocal's thrilled with quiet laughter. He took the cue, however, and straightened up to leave her to her misery. "Enjoy, Commander." he said as he turned to leave.

"What?" Shepard asked, startled." Oh no, oh no no no," she said as she caught his arm and pulled him into her cabin. "You're not getting out of this that easily, Vakarian. You started this, and you're damn sure going pay the consequences."

Garrus blinked, confused. "Commander?"

Shepard glared at him and held the drive up in front of him. She held it pinched between two fingers, as if loathe to touch it. "If I have to watch this then so do you, understand?"

His mandibles twitched. "You're kidding."

"Not a bit." she answered and then turned her back to him and walked further into her cabin.

Garrus stood there, momentarily stunned. He'd never planned for this. Never thought she'd invite him in to watch it with her. In fact, now that he thought about it, he'd never even been  _in_  her cabin before. A tension he was completely unfamiliar with clenched tight inside him.

"Don't even think about running away, Garrus," Shepard called from further in the room.

Garrus swallowed, knowing there was no backing out now. But then again, why would he want to? It was just Shepard, after all. Nothing to be nervous about.

So then why was he?

He shook the thought away and finally followed in after Shepard. She was hunched over a terminal at her desk, opening up the file, and he took the moment to look around. The cabin was sleek and organized, and his eyes caught traces of Shepard all over it: a collection of model ships carefully assembled and proudly displayed inside their glass casing; a pair of curious eyes glancing at him from inside a terrarium on the nearby shelf, directly across the empty fish tank; a down-turned picture frame on the desk, right beside another that held what looked like two pairs of ID tags. He lingered on the last two, his eyes narrowed with thought.

"There." Shepard declared, straightening up. She pressed a final button and the glass casing in front of her melted into black. A moment later a plain title screen appeared, the words  _The Commander and the Citadel_ hovering over a list of options. "All set to go." she continued, then froze, hesitating.

"What?" Garrus asked.

She glanced at him, then quickly away. "It's nothing." she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Just, ah, trying to figure out the seating arrangements."

"Oh." he said, looking around the cabin again.

She followed his gaze, brows heavy with thought. "There's a couch on the other side of the glass that could work, only it doesn't exactly face the right way…" She bit her lip.

"Where do you normally sit?"

Shepard paused. She retucked the same strand of hair behind her ear again and, not looking at him, answered, "The bed."

Garrus swallowed. Any other time, a score of appropriate – and a few  _in_ appropriate _–_ one-liners would have danced out of his mouth. Just then, however, all he could manage was a quick and hopefully not nearly-as-shaky-out-loud-as-it sounded-in-his-head, "The couch sounds great, actually."

The couch, as it turned out,  _wasn't_  great. Shepard had been right when she'd brought up its placement issues – it faced the completely wrong direction and was also bolted to the floor, so moving it was out. Which meant there was only one option left.

"There's some extra pillows under in that drawer over there if you need some," Shepard said as they both settled slowly on the bed, over a foot of empty space looming between them.

"No," Garrus replied quickly, then belatedly added. "I mean, I'm fine. But thanks. For the offer." He shut up and concentrated on adjusting his pillow.

"Sure thing." Shepard returned without looking at him. She folded her hands across her stomach, as if unsure what to do with them otherwise. After a minute, Garrus found himself in a similar position. His mandibles burned against is his faceplates, but he resisted the urge to fan them. "All set?" Shepard asked a moment later with a crooked smile and raised brows.

"Ready when you are," he replied with a flick of his mandibles.

"Then here we go," Shepard murmured and pressed play.

What followed next were some of the longest, most painfully uncomfortable minutes of Garrus' life. He found himself unbelievably aware of how awkward his entire body could feel, even when in the simplest of positions, and was constantly battling to keep himself from fidgeting as one limb or another tingled or itched for attention. Worse, keeping up that control required so much concentration that he then ended up struggling just to pay semi-attention to whatever was happening up on the screen. The hardest thing about it all, as it turned out however, was ignoring the warmth coming off the body beside him.

But, luckily, the weirdness didn't last. As the movie progressed and the minutes trickled by, the insecurity faded with it. The process was slow – so gradual that Garrus hardly noticed it – but steady nonetheless. It began with the first scene "Commander Shepard" appeared in, donned in a sleek Alliance Blue outfit far closer to one of Miranda's cat-suits than the usual armor Shepard wore. The real Shepard let out a snort so loud Garrus almost missed the next line of dialogue, and then from there the wall of glass that had built between them began to shatter, piece by piece.

Garrus cackled with laughter when Commander Shepard swept gracefully across the dance floor at her Spectre Induction Ball, laughing all the harder as the real Shepard grumbled obscenities from her corner of the bed. Shepard's revenge came soon after that, however, and she all but cried with laughter during the scene where she single-handedly stormed the crime lord "Frisk"'s base and rescued the imprisoned turian C-sec detective in process. Both of them groaned in the scene where she was chastised cruelly by the corrupt Vorcha Councilor, who everyone  _knew_ was in Saren's pocket, and they cheered with approval when she subsequently hung up on him.

By the time the Virmire scene happened, all traces of the earlier awkwardness had vanished. Shepard was now sprawled out across the bed, her legs still casually tangled up over Garrus's from one of her earlier fits of laughter. He in turn had finally relaxed, leaning back leisurely against the two extra pillows he'd claimed sometime earlier. So when Shepard's Super Secret Shadow Force began their infiltration into Saren's base, Garrus was in a more than adequate position to watch the real Shepard's reaction.

It was subtle. At first, she merely watched, face carefully blank as the squad stormed through geth after geth. Her lip curled up into a ghost of a grin during her showdown with "Recks", but the curve grew sharp as the scene went on, all but cutting into her skin when the battle with Saren finally began. The smile was gone when Garrus next glanced her way, her face once again neutral as she watched Commander Shepard fighting to rescue her stranded squad mate, bitter tears streaming down her doppelganger's face as the rest of her crew pulled her away and onto the ship for evacuation. When the ship finally broke orbit amidst the roar of an explosion hot on its heels, all Shepard did was blink once, twice, and then that was it.

After that, the quiet tension that formed during the scene vanished with it, and the earlier ease returned when they both snorted as Commander Shepard assured her crew that "of course the Council will listen, trust me,".

Shepard shifted slightly a little later, and Garrus glanced over at her, noticing for the first time how only mere inches separated one of her hands from his own. His gaze trailed up her arm, more exposed than he'd ever seen it before, and he found himself fascinated by the scatterings of dots that marked her skin. They were similar to ones on her face, only bigger and darker. He wondered how long it would take to count them all.

Shepard laughed at something he'd missed. He coughed, clearing this throat quietly, and turned his attention back to the film.

A half an hour later, the ending credits finally appeared on the screen. Shepard muted it just as a song began to build up in the background – something called  _Das Malefitz,_ Garrus thought, making a mental note to purchase it later – and then she stretched, sighing.

"So what's the verdict?" she asked as she sat up, finally removing her legs off of his. They felt strangely cold as her weight disappeared from them, despite the welcome arrival of blood flow as his circulation returned.

Garrus followed her lead and sat up as well. "Well, at least they got the part with Mako right." he commented drily. The memory of internal screaming mixed with Shepard shouts, yelling at him and Kaidan to hold on to their guns, as she launched the Mako into Conduit's relay still sent shivers down his fringe.

"My moment of glory." she agreed wistfully. He rolled his eyes.

"What time is it?" he asked, opening up his omni-tool.  _Spirits,_   _how the hell did that happen?,_ he thought when he saw the answer.

"Crap," Shepard groaned as she too glanced at her clock. "I was supposed to have those reports finished for Miranda two hours ago." She sighed and rubbed a hand across her forehead. "I'll get the Miranda Stare for sure this time."

"Sorry..." Garrus apologized, scratching at his scars.

She shook her head, lips curved up in a rueful grin. "Don't be. This was fun, Garrus. More fun than I've had in…well, a lifetime really." She added, eyes flashing. She turned to him. "Thank you."

"Anytime, Commander." he said, meeting her gaze. They smiled at each other, and for a moment Shepard's face seemed to tense, as if she was on the verge of saying something. Garrus waited, curious. She said nothing, however, and he realized he must imagined it. Still, his mandibles began to warm for some reason and he looked way. He rubbed the back of his neck as he said, "Guess I should get going then."

"Right," Shepard said, standing up as he did so too. She followed him to door, standing back when it opened and he stepped out.

Garrus paused after he crossed the threshold, hesitant to leave. He turned back to Shepard, knowing he should say something, even if he wasn't sure what. "Thanks again for the armor, Commander." he finally managed to get out.

"Anything for my favorite turian," she replied, brow arched. "And Garrus?" she added, then paused as she bit down on her lip. For an instant, Garrus thought he saw the same tense expression flicker across her face he had moments ago. It was gone before he could be sure, however, and instead all she did was give him one last smile, curved and full. "It's just Shepard from now on. Can't be having my best friend calling me by rank all the time, now can I?"

Garrus blinked, mandibles twitching. "Sure thing, Co-….Shepard."

She grinned. "Good. Sweet dreams, Garrus."

The door closed.

Garrus stood there, staring at the metal.

 _Best friend?,_ he repeated, feeling his mandibles grow hot once again. The warmth sent shivers down his fringe and, the more he thought about Shepard's words, the more it seemed to spread. It was a strangely pleasant feeling, one he hadn't felt in longer than he could remember. He smiled, repeating the words to himself again as he finally turned to leave.  _Best friend, huh?_

Garrus could work with that.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is it! It's finally over! When I first sat down and wrote that first chapter so long ago, I had no idea Among the Tombs was going to turn out like this. I'd never written any fic over 2,000 words before - let alone anything like the multi-chapter monstrosity this turned out the be - and I'd never would have imagined it would be well over six months before Garrus and Shepard's trip to Omega finally reached its conclusion. Looking back, I've learned so much about writing and about these wonderful characters from this amazing experience, and I'm incredibly grateful for that. More than anything, though, I'm grateful for all the absolutely amazing support and feedback I've gotten from you all. This fandom truly has some the greatest people ever in it, and I know this story never would have made it this far without you guys. So thank you again so very much for sticking with me and this story, and I hope you all enjoy the ending as much as I did. : )


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